The "Ansar" began their final attack by storming the city via the gap in the defence caused by the low Nile and after an hour's fighting, the starving defenders had abandoned the fight and the city was theirs. The "Ansar" took no prisoners and all of the approximately 7,000 defenders were killed. On arriving at Khartoum on 28 January, the reconnaissance gunboats found that the city had been captured and Gordon had been killed just two days before, coincidentally, two days before his 52nd birthday. Under heavy fire from "Ansar" warriors on the bank, the two steamers turned back up river.