On February 15 Nader crossed the Tigris with 2,500 and immediately moved south with another 1,500 men managing to make the crossing to follow Nader just before the bridge over the river collapsed into it. Ahmad Pasha accelerated his force up the Tigris as soon as he heard of the Persian contingent's presence on the left bank of the river. Nader's small band included three fowj of Kurdish (each "fowj" being a unit of 1,000 soldiers), Turcomen and Abdali Afghan troops which he formed up against a formidable Ottoman assault containing artillery, cavalry and janissaries (infantry).