DUSHANBE, July 10, 2015, Asia-Plus – International media outlets report that the Afghan intelligence agency has confirmed that the Islamic State (IS) leader in Afghanistan was killed in a drone strike in the eastern part of the country earlier this week.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) confirmed on Thursday that the IS leader in Afghanistan, Shahidullah Shahid, along with several other IS militants, was killed in a drone strike in Achin district in eastern Nangarhar on Tuesday July 7.
Afghan media
TOLOnews
reports that Shahidullah Shahid led IS in the Khorasan province. Shahid, a former member of the Pakistani Taliban, was ousted from the group in October 2014, and was one of the first to pledge allegiance to IS in Afghanistan.
Shahid, nee Sheikh Maqbool, reportedly wanted to launch a regional fight, expanding IS influence in Afghanistan, starting from Nangarhar province.
According to a recent
Reuters
report, IS militants have gained control over significant amounts of territory ousting the rival Taliban jihadist group in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, which borders with lawless areas in Pakistan.
The two extremist groups reportedly declared holy war (jihad) on each other in April 2015 after the IS ringleader Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi called the Taliban leader Mullah Omar “a fool and an illiterate warlord.”
