“They got him”, a US defense authority who remained anonymous said ahead of the official statement, according to GEO TV.
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Khan was known to participate in attacks against United States and coalition forces, with his leadership in ISIS resulting in terrorizing Afghans in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.
Details of the strike were not immediately available, but a USA official told the BBC that Saeed was killed by drone.
Taliban fighters pose with weapons in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
The statement said that Khan had used Nangarhar to “train, equip, disseminate and control” the supply of fighters, and that his death would disrupt the branch’s recruiting and operations in the region.
IS increased its activities in Afghanistan since past year. [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.
The leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group in Afghanistan and Pakistan was killed by a USA drone last month, a US defense official confirmed to Fox News Friday.
His death is another high-profile killing of a terrorist in the region in months. In May, a USA drone killed Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a strike in Pakistan. He was formerly a commander of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), but switched allegiance to the Middle-East based IS in October a year ago.
The crew members, five Pakistanis and a Russian, were captured by the Taliban militants after their government helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan on August 4. The Taliban reject al-Baghdadi as leader of an envisioned worldwide caliphate.
Saeed Khan was erroneously declared dead by Afghan authorities in July past year.
The militant was reported killed by a drone strike in Achin in July 2015 as well.
Most NATO combat troops who had been fighting the Taliban and other insurgent groups have now left Afghanistan, with responsibility for the country’s security switching to local forces.
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In Afghanistan, Taliban and Islamic State fighters have battled over territory in Nangarhar, though both have recently been more busy defending against US and Afghan assaults.
