The attack continued two days and two nights. The safety of the town depended only upon a small number of Russian guns mounted upon the higher buildings and the walls. During the fighting the Kurds were able to approach to within three miles of the walls. Six large villages were razed and many of the inhabitants who had been unable to flee to Urumiah were massacred.

After the Kurds had been driven off Dr. Yuseff discovered that the bodies of certain Mohammedans who were well known in the town, who had given the Kurds aid in battle, had been hastily buried to conceal the fact that they had taken the part of the enemy while the bodies of the Kurds had been left where they had fallen.

In this engagement Dr. Yuseff first saw the flag of the holy war which the Mohammedans carried before them. It was a red hand on a green field, in which the red was the symbol of the power of might, the green the symbol of the power of faith.

-- The New York Times, 31 March 1915.