US military say that the group’s stronghold in Afghanistan is dwindling due to strikes by Afghan forces and USA forces backing them.
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“Khan was known to directly participate in attacks against US and coalition forces, and the actions of this network terrorized Afghans, especially in Nangarhar”, said Trowbridge.
According to Trowbridge the airstrike was part of a month-long operation against ISIS carried out by us and Afghan special operations forces this past July in southern Nangarhar province.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has used the volatile eastern Afghanistan province as their unofficial base of operations in the country, battling Taliban factions based along the Afghan-Pakistan border for control of the region.
Hafiz Saeed Khan was the leader of IS operations across the so-called “Khorasan Province” – swaths of territory across Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan where the Islamist extremists had to jostle with other groups, like the Taliban and al-Qaeda, for territory. He led the branch of the ISIS in the Khorasan region, which includes former Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.
The plane was set on fire by the Afghan Taliban, who also held Pakistani officials and a Russian pilot hostage. Two days later, the drone strike killed Khan, officials said.
On August 6, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, sought the return of the passengers from the terror group after a Taliban commander claimed that they were “in safe hands”.
If confirmed, Saeed will be the third top-tier Islamic State leader to have been killed in eastern Afghanistan since USA and Afghan forces began targeting the group’s commanders last summer.
Despite that, Afghanistan’s 15-year-old war grinds on with no clear victory in sight.
Pentagon officials confirmed the death of Sayed on Friday.
A spokesman for the US -led mission in Afghanistan said the equipment was lost when USA forces had to move a casualty collection area because they came under fire and denied that any US personnel had been captured.
US and Afghan leaders have been concerned about the growth of IS in Afghanistan.
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Still, worries that Islamic State might be expanding its operational reach heightened this week when the group took credit for an attack on a Pakistani hospital that killed at least 74 people in the southwestern city of Quetta.
