eskender's most significant military accomplishment was sacking dakkar, the capital of the adal sultanate, in 1478; despite this achievement, as he led his army back home, the larger adal army under amir muhammad ibn azhar ad-din overtook them, killing many of his men and taking many prisoners. eskender was said to have escaped capture only through the assistance of angels, and afterwards he built a church named debere meshwa'e, "place of sacrifice". there is some disagreement over the context of this campaign. one view is presented by james bruce, who adds that zasillus, governor of amhara, had been commanded to mobilize the forces in the south while eskender himself raised levies from angot and tigray; according to bruce, eskender was responding to the predations of mahfuz of zeila. more recent scholars, such as richard pankhurst, hold that eskender's sack of dakkar led to amir muhammad to seek peace with the ethiopians, but he was outmaneuvered by mahfuz.