Masa'b Zobayr follows them and blockades the city of Kufa at the borders...

Masa'b Zobayr follows them and blockades the city of Kufa at the borders; no supplies are getting through and people become despondent; they refuse to answer the call of Mukhtar to fight on and would now rather submit to Masa'b Zobayr than continue facing the hardships. When Masa'b Zobayr hears about the demoralised Kufians, he enters the city wanting to surround Mukhtar's palace.

Abdulla Hatim was a local Chief with about four hundred gallant men; they manage to slow down Masa'b Zobayr's entry at the district of Kanasa within Kufa, killing about one thousand of Masa'b Zobayr's men before the Chief himself and all his men are killed.

In the governor’s palace, Mukhtar has only a small number of his close friends, about thirty in all, (the six thousand men who came back to Kufa with him had deserted but were subsequently killed by Masa'b Zobayr's men) ready to defend Mukhtar; they all fight valiantly to their death.

Mukhtar continues to fight until he is the last one from his side, when he is finally set upon and has his head cut; the date was 14 Ramadhan 67 AH (Mukhtar became the governor of Kufa, with the aim to avenge the Kerbala perpetrators on 14 Rabil Awwal 66 AH). Mukhtar is buried behind Muslim Aqeel in Kufa, adjoining the Kufa Mosque, where pilgrims go to pay homage. It is reported that Mukhtar managed to bring to justice about eighteen thousand perpetrators of Kerbala during his time as governor.

Masa'b Zobayr then sends the head of Mukhtar to Abdulla Zobayr in Mecca. History reports that later on, Masa'b Zobayr is in turn killed by the forces of Abdul Malik Marwan Hakam, the governor of Damascus; Masa'b Zobayr's head is then sent to Abdul Malik who is in the governor's palace in Kufa.

An old man at the courtyard in Kufa, who witnessed the going-ons, said: in this very court yard in Kufa, I saw Imam Husein's (as) head before Ubaydallah Ziyad, the head of Ubaydallah Ziyad before Mukhtar, the head of Mukhtar before Masa'b Zobayr, and now the head of Masa'b Zobayr before Abdul Malik; on hearing this, Abdul Malik regards the courtyard in the palace as a bad omen and orders that the governor's palace be burnt down. Previous…