In 1508 Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin obtained permission from the Hafsid Sultan Abu Mohammed Abdullah to use Bizerte as his base for operating in the western coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. The Sultan, in return, was to receive one fifth of his profits. Kurtoğlu assembled a fleet of some thirty ships, carrying 6,000 corsairs, and in the summer of 1508 he attacked Liguria, where he landed his troops at Diano Marina and sacked the town.