Dongola was the scene of a victory by General Herbert Kitchener over the indigenous Mahdist Muslim tribes in 1899 who later turned it into a british-egyptian army base with the objective of collecting and storing weapons, gear and resources. Dongola was a considered an all time base for sending campaign reports to Britain, and the first English press release was issued in the name of Dongola Star, with news of the British-Egyptian army in Sudan. Kitcheners forces have been known for extreme brutality, killing over 15,000 in the Battle of Omdurman before conquering Dongola, and later on proceeded killing the wounded, raising the overall death toll to over 50,000.