Siege of Kerman
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Qajar victory
• Fall of the Zand dynastychanges Capture of Kerman by the Qajars
| Siege of Kerman | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Qajar–Zand Wars | |||||||||
 Capture and Sack of Kerman by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Zand loyalists | Qajar forces | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Lotf Ali Khan | Agha Mohammad Khan | ||||||||
The siege of Kerman (1794) was the capture of the city of Kerman by the Qajar forces led by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar against Zand forces led by Lotf Ali Khan (the last Khan of the Zand dynasty) which resulted in a decisive Qajar victory.[1] After the siege, tens of thousands of its inhabitants were killed, blinded or taken into slavery; it took the city decades to recover.[2]
The Afghan chiefs of Bam invited Lotf Ali Khan to return and expel the Qajar yoke. With their help, Lotf Ali Khan returned to Kerman and captured the city on 30 March.[3] Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar quickly heard of this and marched towards Kerman on May 14. The siege lasted four months and took a toll on Kerman's population. The city fell on 24 October, and Lotf Ali Khan quickly fled to Bam. However, the chief of Bam gave Lotf Ali Khan to the Qajars and ordered Lotf Ali Khan to be killed. The last of the Zand rulers was finally delivered to Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, who had long waited to exact revenge on his arch-rival. "The page of history would be stained by a recital of the indignities offered to the royal captive..."[4] It is reported that Lotf Ali Khan was blinded. Lotf Ali Khan was imprisoned and tortured in Tehran before being choked to death in the late of 1794.
