ISIS Leader in Afghanistan Was Killed, Afghan-U.S. Officials Confirm

The Islamic State leader in Afghanistan, Sheikh Abdul Hasib, was killed in a raid conducted jointly by Afghan special forces and U.S. troops in eastern province of Nangarhar on April 27, Afghan and U.S. officials confirmed late on Sunday.

The raid also resulted in the deaths of several other high ranking ISIS leaders and 35 of the group fighters.

“This is the second ISIS-K emir we have killed in nine months, along with dozens of their leaders and hundreds of their fighters,” General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan was quoted as saying in a statement released.

The Afghan presidential palace also announced the death of Hasib in a series of tweets.

“He was responsible for ordering the attack on the 400-bed hospital in Kabul, kidnapped girls and beheaded elders in front of their families,” President Ashraf Ghani’s office said.

The March 8 attack on Kabul military hospital, carried out by ISIS gunmen disguised as medical personnel, left over one-hundred Afghans dead or injured.

Hasib took control of the ISIS-K about one year ago, when his predecessor Hafiz Saeed Khan was killed by a U.S. drone attack.

This comes as Afghan and U.S. forces launched a counter ISIS-K offensive in early March 2017 to drive the group from eastern Afghanistan and send a clear message to ISIS that there is no sanctuary for their fighters in Afghanistan.

As a part of the campaign, the U.S. forces dropped the “Mother of All Bombs” on an ISIS-K tunnel system on April 13.

By: Hesamuddin Hesam