Battle of Mers-el-Fahm
The Battle of Mers-el-Fahm otherwise known as the Massacre of Mers-el-Fahm was a surprise attack planned by Soliman Pasha and the King of Kuku's Nephew, Abdallah against the Spanish Empire, in which Abdallah promised to let the Spanish install garissons in the village of Azeffoun only to massacre them after being promised money by Algiers. ContextA religious man by the name of Father Matthew was a slave in Kuku for a long time, even learning the local language, and he grew close with the Governor of Zeffoun (Azeffoun) Abdallah who was also Nephew of the King of Kuku, exploiting the Independence of Kuku from Algiers, Matthew devised a plan with him to let Spanish garrisons military access. To which Abdallah promised to give the Spaniards entry at Mers-el-Fahm (Arabic: مرسى الفحم, romanized: Marsā al-Faḥm) owever, the Divan of Algiers found out about this plot from spies, and Soliman Pasha took an army and besieged Azzefoun, to which Abdallah surrendered, Soliman asked Abdallah to massacre the Spanish garrison on their arrival at Oued-el-Fahm, promising him 1 sultani for each Christian's head and 200 sultani for Matthew's head, to which Abdallah accepted.[1][2][3] MassacreFather Matthew arrived with 4 Galleys commanded by the Viceroy of Majorca, and about 100 men, when they arrived Abdallah made sure to give them a honorable welcome to make them feel safe, Matthew asks about the son of the King of Kuku, who was gonna be taken by the Spanish as a hostage, Abdallah told them that his cousin was bound in a fortress to which Abdallah tells Matthew to follow him into the fort to retrieve the hostage, Matthew got suspicious and tried to go back to his galleys only to be attacked by the Kabyles and massacred, the Viceroy of Majorca retreats from the shores leaving Matthew and his 80 men to be killed by Abdallah and his army.[1][2][4][3][5] AftermathAfter bringing the heads to Algiers, Soliman Pasha did not give Abdallah anything for the heads.[1][2][3] with the pretext that Abdallah 'had to bring them alive so they can be held captive or sold as slaves'.[4] References
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