Provincial government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai says another eight police were wounded in Sunday’s attack in the Achin district, bordering Pakistan.
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In a statement, the NDS said that that 60 suspected Daesh fighters and their commander Jalil Worakzai were killed in the first strike conducted in the district’s Abdul Khil locality Sunday. Although the attack overthrew the Taliban, many areas across Afghanistan still face violence and insecurity.
Until now IS loyalists in Afghanistan have only clashed with Taliban insurgents.
The Taliban militant group is yet to make comments. It said militants seized two army barracks in Achin, set fire to an army vehicle, seized weapons and killed nine “apostates”.
The IS-backed groups “regularly engage” Afghan military forces, but fighting with other parts of the insurgency are rare, except in Nangarhar province where they are battling the Taliban for control of the drug trade.
The militant group is blamed for some of the most deadly terrorist attacks carried out in Afghanistan, including the Indian Embassy bombing, the attack on Serena Hotel and the coordinated attacks on the Justice Ministry complex over the past decade.
“It is a newly emerging threat”, the official said in a background briefing on Afghanistan.
Mujahid said, “Heavy casualties inflicted on Daesh (the Arabic acronym for Islamic State militants) fighters forced them to retreat”.
The United States said it is concerned about Islamic State efforts to try to establish a stronghold in Afghanistan.
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However, efforts to negotiate with the Taliban broke down in July when it was revealed that Mullah Omar, the longtime leader of the group, had died two years ago.
