IS chief killed in missile strike

JALALABAD, Afghanistan - The top leader of the Islamic State group outfit in Afghanistan has been killed by long-range missiles fired by US-led NATO coalition forces that struck IS hideouts in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, said a statement on Monday.

"Abu Saad Erhabi, together with 14 IS militants, was killed on Sunday when the missiles struck IS hideouts in Waziri Tangai locality, Khogyani district, Nangarhar province," read the statement issued by Afghan army Corps 201 Selab based in the region.

Seven militants from the IS group were also injured in the attack in the mountainous district, southwest of provincial capital Jalalabad city, the statement added.

Two IS command posts together with large amount of explosive and weapons were destroyed following the strikes.

Lieutenant-Colonel Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, said the United States carried out a strike in Afghanistan on Saturday against a "senior leader of a designated terrorist organization".

The provincial governor of Nangarhar said Erhabi was the fourth Islamic State leader in Afghanistan to be killed since July 2017.

The IS group has developed a stronghold in Nangarhar, on Afghanistan's porous eastern border with Pakistan, and become one of the country's most dangerous militant groups.

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

Plane bombing

The clashes have forced thousands of villagers in Khogyani to flee to safer places.

The IS group, which emerged in Nangarhar in early 2015, has yet to make comments on the report.

The exact number of IS militants in Afghanistan is difficult to calculate because they frequently switch allegiances, but the US military estimates there are about 2,000.

More than 150 IS extremists surrendered to Afghan security forces this month in the northwestern province of Jawzjan, where the group is fighting for control of smuggling routes into neighboring Turkmenistan.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan officials said on Monday a Tajik or Russian aircraft had bombed a northeastern Afghan border district during a clash between gunmen and Tajik border guards, but officials in both Tajikistan and Russia denied that they had done so.

The air attack followed a clash between gunmen and Tajik border guards in Durqad district of Takhar province, two Afghan officials said.

Khalil Asir, a spokesman for Takhar provincial police, said eight Taliban were killed and six wounded in the airstrike after a clash in which two Tajik border guards were killed.

Xinhua - Reuters