But the death was never confirmed.
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The top leader for the Islamic State’s Afghanistan branch was killed by U.S. forces in a strike last month, the U.S. Department of Defense said Friday.
Though the statement did not specify if a drone was involved, according to Dunya News, BBC was informed that Khan was indeed killed in a drone-strike.
It was the U.S. military’s second killing of an anti-American Islamist militant leader in the region in the past three months.
USA and Afghan leaders have been concerned about the growth of IS in Afghanistan.
In terms of its own territory, Islamic State has been largely confined to a handful of districts in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, where IS militants – mostly defectors from the Taliban – are blamed for raiding villages and government outposts.
The Pentagon expects Khan’s death is expected to disrupt those activities and dash Islamic State’s hopes of expanding their operations and brand through central Asia. IS had also attacked the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad in January that had killed seven Afghan security personnel. [Photo by Iraq Counterterrorism Service/AP Images] The terrorist organization has denied the USA reports of their leader’s death and has insisted that he survived the attack.
Khan has been reported as having been killed before, but the official said there has been confirmation that Khan was killed in the airstrike that occurred in Nangarhar Province more than two weeks ago.
A spokesman for the USA military coalition in Kabul said he could not confirm the reports but officials were investigating.
Hafiz Saeed Khan was named head of IS’s “Khorasan province”, which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of neighbouring countries, early previous year when a group of Pakistani Taliban switched allegiance to the jihadist group.
Taliban and al Qaeda are bitter rivals of the Islamic State.
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In January, President Obama authorized new measures allowing USA forces in Afghanistan to target Islamic State fighters in the country under counterterrorism rules of engagements usually reserved to target al-Qaeda and other terrorist factions. This strike was conducted under authorities the President gave the Department of Defense earlier this year to specifically target members of ISIL-K as part of the USA counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan.
