The Battle of Sabun was a battle of the Ethiopian-Adal War fought in 1533 between the army of the Ethiopian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman explorer Giritli Muhammed commanded a naval expedition which crossed the Gulf of Aden from present-day Yemen to the Horn of Africa to support the Somali Adal Sultanate in its war with the Christian Ethiopians, and the Ottomans established a base down the Somalian coast at Sabun; the Ottomans also built a base at Afgoye. The Ottomans and their Adalite allies periodically raided the Ethiopian city of Gambera, leading to the Ethiopian general Beselot Adugna Wagaye leading a retaliatory expedition. The Ethiopians, backed by Portuguese cannoneers, attacked the Ottoman base of Sabun to the southeast, bringing with them a Sebastopol mortar. The Ethiopians used their superior firepower to destroy several Ottoman buildings as the Ethiopian and allied Somali spearmen repelled the Ottoman cavalry, and the Ethiopians overwhelmed the Ottoman base and destroyed it. Dozens of Ottoman settlers attempted to flee further southwest to their secondary base at Afgoye, but the Ethiopians resumed their advance and bombarded the Ottoman town center at Afgoye to rubble. A total of 109 Ottomans, among them many civilians, were killed in the battle, while 51 Ethiopians were killed in the defense of Gambera and the assault on Sabun.
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