The Battle and massacre of Italians at Shar al-Shatt, 1911 in the village of Shar al-Shatt on the outskirts of Tripoli, Libya during the Italo-Turkish War

This took place during the often forgotten Italo-Ottoman war. Some reports indicate that the Italians had been accused of sexual assault against the locals though this is unproven. The IV Battalion of the 11th Bersaglieri Regiment of Colonel Gustavo Fara had been positioned at the small oasis village as part of the defenses of Tripoli. On 23 October, the force of about 500 Italian soldiers came under attack from the Turks and Arabs and was quickly overrun and decimated. Approximately 290 'bersaglieri' who survived the initial assault surrendered to the jihadists in the local cemetery, but all were tortured and killed.