Afghanistan: Head of Islamic State Abu Saad Erhabi killed, says government

The National Directorate of Security in Kabul said on Sunday that Abu Saad Erhabi — head of Islamic State in Afghanistan — was killed in a strike on the group’s hideouts in Nangarhar province on Saturday night. Along with him, ten other members of the militant group were also killed in a joint ground and air operation by Afghan and foreign forces.

Issuing a statement, the Afghan authorities stated that a large amount of heavy and light weapons and ammunition were also destroyed during raids on two Islamic State hideouts. Though no comments were made by the jihadist group’s Amaq’s news agency, there is no reaction from the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, which trains and advises Afghan forces, reports The Hindu.

As per the report, Erhabi was the fourth Islamic State leader in Afghanistan to be killed since July 2017, stated provincial governor of Nangarhar. The governor informed that Erhabi and his group had developed a stronghold in Nangarhar, which is Afghanistan’s porous eastern border with Pakistan. The place in the recent past has become country’s safest hideout for most dangerous militant groups.

The group was the local affiliate of Islamic State — sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region — has been fighting with Taliban as well as Afghan and U.S. forces since 2015. In the latest attack, former  ISIS-K leader Abu Sayed was also killed in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Though the exact number of the Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan is difficult to calculate, the U.S. military estimates that there are about 2,000.

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