Hafiz Saeed Khan was killed in a US drone strike in the Kot district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province on July 26, an unidentified USA defense official was quoted as saying on August 12.
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The death of Saeed represents a major setback for the ISIL group as it tries to establish itself as a serious force in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
USA military spokesman Colonel Michael Lawhorn said American forces in Afghanistan “are aware of those reports and we are looking into it” but have not yet confirmed Khan’s death.
But unnamed United States defence officials told Reuters and AFP the IS leader had indeed been killed.
US Air Strike which was held on Pakistan and Afghan Border region last month on July 26th, killed IS leader Hafiz Saeed Khan. “He was reported killed past year but the death was never confirmed”.
“Khan’s death affects [Islamic State] recruiting efforts and will disrupt [its] operations in Afghanistan and the region”.
It is the second USA killing of a prominent militant in the region in months.
Afghan intelligence and American military officials had previously believed Saeed was one of 30 Islamic State insurgents killed in a July 2015 USA airstrike in Achin district in Nangharhar.
Pakistan Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, called on the commander of United States troops in Afghanistan, The Afghan government and Afghan National Army to take them on board in the rescue efforts.
That operation was considered the most significant United States raid inside Pakistan since al-Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden, was killed in 2011.
He added that the branch that Khan led was using the Nangarhar province to train activists and provide a continuous flow of fighters.
Pakistan says it has been a victim of terrorism, much of it from groups based in Afghanistan, for years. A former Afghan National Security official tells CNN “It may be a tactical victory, but many ISIS members in Afghanistan are in fact extremists from Pakistan”. It is also worth mentioning that Taliban do not accept the IS Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a global caliphate. If Khan is dead, it is unclear who would replace him.
Besides a number of other terrorist attacks, ISIS had recently claimed responsibility for the July 23 attack in Kabul in which more than 80 people were killed.
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The IS leader was targeted on July 26 in Nangarhar, a southern Afghan province, where the joint special forces of the USA and Afghanistan were conducting anti-IS operations.
