“In July, U.S. and Afghanistan Special Forces conducted operations against the terror group in southern Nangarhar province and killed Hafiz”, said Deputy Press Secretary Gordon Trowbridge.
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Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal also confirmed Khan’s death. A similar claim surfaced previous year by Afghan intelligence agents, but the report was never confirmed.
“Nangarhar province has been a hotbed for [Islamic State] activity since the summer of 2015”, Trowbridge said.
Details of the strike were not immediately available, but a United States official told the BBC that Saeed was killed in a July 26 drone strike in the Kot district of Nangarhar.
A statement by Presidential Palace said the Civil Aviation Authority of Afghanistan only granted permission for the helicopter to use the Afghan airspace after recording the specifications of the helicopter.
According to Dawn online, the reports have not been confirmed by Pakistani officials.
The U.S. Department of Defense says an airstrike has killed prominent Islamic State leader Hafiz Sayed Khan in Afghanistan.
His death is another high-profile killing of a terrorist in the region in months.
The former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike inside Pakistan in May. This province includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of neighbouring countries was lead by Saeed before he was killed.
Earlier, a senior Afghan Taliban commander, speaking on condition of anonymity said that the passengers – six Pakistanis and a Russian technician – were in their custody and that negotiations for their release were ongoing. It is also worth mentioning that Taliban do not accept the IS Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a global caliphate. Roughly a week later, the Islamic State posted pictures of captured USA equipment and identification cards from a US soldier who had been involved in the fighting there.
In January, President Obama gave the US military authority to strike the Islamic State in Afghanistan and operations, including airstrikes, against them began immediately.
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Afghan soldiers and US troops march toward Gerekheyl village during a patrol in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. That is a decrease in number from 3,000 in January.
