The Pentagon said Friday that a US drone strike late last month killed the leader of ISIS’s branch in Afghanistan. Friday, the Pentagon announced that US and coalition operations in the Nangarhar region in July killed the Islamic State’s Afghan leader, Hafiz Sayed Khan.
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He led the branch of the ISIS in the Khorasan region, which includes former Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.
Pentagon officials confirmed the death of Sayed on Friday.
Saeed, a former member of the Pakistani branch of the Taliban who swore allegiance to ISIL, had also been reported killed previous year, but his death was never confirmed.
A U.S. defence official also confirmed to Reuters that the July 26 drone strike killed Saeed.
“During this time, U.S. forces conducted an air strike targeting Hafiz Saeed Khan, the Islamic State in the Levant-Khorasan emir, in Achin district, Nangarhar province July 26, resulting in his death”, Trowbridge said.
The July 26 strike in the Achin district of Nangarhar province resulted in the death of Hafiz Saeed Khan, the Pentagon said Friday, according to The Hill.
The number of fighters belonging to the group and the amount of territory held by the group has been reduced by recent Afghan military operations supported by US airstrikes.
Khan – a longtime commander with the Pakistani Taliban – pledged allegiance in October 2014 to Islamic State’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Afghan soldiers and USA troops march toward Gerekheyl village during a patrol in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.
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“They got him”, a USA defense authority who remained anonymous said ahead of the official statement, according to GEO TV. Pakistan Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, called on the commander of USA troops in Afghanistan, The Afghan government and Afghan National Army to take them on board in the rescue efforts. In January, the U.S. President Barrack Obama granted the U.S. military authority to carry out airstrikes against the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan. At that time, there were an estimated 3,000 IS militants in the country, a number much smaller than the 25,000 – 30,000 Taliban fighters.
