In September 902, after dismantling defenses and accepting surrenders, the ex-emir marched to Messina and ferried his army across the straits to Calabria, to begin his advertised march overland to Constantinople. News of the landing of a large Ifriqiyan army headed by the ferocious Ibrahim (his bloodthirsty reputation preceded him) prompted a panic in southern Italy, several towns began evacuations, fortresses were demolished lest the Ifriqiyans made use of them. Ibrahim, however, got bogged down laying siege to Cosenza, a small citadel in northern Calabria that should not have been much of an obstacle. Taken suddenly ill with dysentery, the ex-emir Ibrahim II died on 23 October 902 in a chapel near the siege camp of Cosenza. Command of the expeditionary army passed to his grandson, Ziyadat Allah, who immediately lifted the siege and returned with the army to Sicily.