On Thursday, top IS leader and ex- Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid was killed in a United States drone attack in Afghanistan. After developing differences with Maulana Fazlullah, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Khan and his close commanders left the mainstream militant group and joined ISIS in October 2014.
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The Taliban have warned Islamic State to stay out of Afghanistan, threatening to react harshly if anyone tried to undermine their “achievements” during the 14-year war here.
At the time the TTP said Shahidullah Shahid was a “nom de guerre” and that his real name was Sheikh Maqbool, the BBC reported.
Two ISIL-affiliated commanders in Afghanistan who said they were present when the strike happened confirmed Saeed’s death to Agence France-Presse.
Saeed was among the 30 militants killed when the drone targeted their compound in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province.
Tuesday’s strike happened to coincide with the first meeting between Afghan and Taliban officials to discuss opening peace negotiations.
Further details on the drone strike are yet to be known and no official confirmation has been given by the Afghan government.
In an unrelated incident, a local leader and pro-government figure named Shir Arab was killed following a drive-by shooting attack in Mazar-i-Sharif city, capital of northern Balkh province on Saturday evening, Shir Jan Durranni, a provincial police spokesman, said.
Sediqi said the Afghan intelligence service provided information to USA forces, who carried out the strike.
In February, an American drone strike killed Mullah Abdul Rauf, the Islamic State’s head in southern Afganistan.
He was the most prominent of a group of fighters who appeared in a video in January, apparently filmed in Pakistan, pledging allegiance to the self-styled Islamic State.
Islamic State loyalists, mostly ex- Taliban disillusioned by the movement’s unsuccessful bid to return to power in Kabul, are often accompanied by dozens of foreign foreigners, hoisting black flags in several districts in the province.
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Across the border in Pakistan, at least nine suspected Taliban militants and four Pakistani army soldiers were killed in a clash in the South Waziristan tribal region on Saturday, the Pakistani military’s official media wing said.
