Leader of IS in Afghanistan killed: Pentagon

The Pentagon says an air strike has killed the head of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan.

In this Wednesday, May 31, 2017 file photo, security forces stand next to a crater created by a massive explosion, that killed over 150 according to the Afghan president,

In this Wednesday, May 31, 2017 file photo, security forces stand next to a crater created by a massive explosion, that killed over 150 according to the Afghan Source: AAP

The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Sayed, has been killed in a strike on the group's headquarters in Kunar province earlier this week, the Pentagon says.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement on Friday that other members of the Islamic State group were also killed in the strike on Tuesday.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters, "The significance is you kill a leader of one of these groups and it sets them back ... it is obviously a victory on our side in terms of setting them back, it is the right direction."

Sayed is the third Islamic State leader in Afghanistan to be killed since July 2016.

Former leader Abdul Hasib was killed in a joint US and Afghan operation on April 27 in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Hasib's predecessor Hafiz Saeed Khan died in a US drone strike in 2016.

Afghan troops, backed by US warplanes and special forces, have been battling militants linked to Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan for years.

The local affiliate of Islamic State, sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region that includes Afghanistan, has been active since 2015, fighting the Taliban and Afghan and US forces.

General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, has vowed to defeat Islamic State there this year.


Share
2 min read
Published 15 July 2017 6:26am
Updated 15 July 2017 7:03am
Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends