At least 20 suspected Islamic State militants were killed and several others injured in a series of U.S. drone strikes in the eastern Afghanistan province of Nangarhar, officials said on Thursday.
The U.S. drone attacks carried out against Islamic State affiliated militants in Haroon Baba area of Haska Mina district of the province.
The two separate drone strikes targeted the extremists while they were travelling, a spokesman for Nangarhar Governor Ahmad Zia Ahmadzai said, according to Tolo News.
Nangarhar Drone Strike Kills 20 Suspected Daesh Militants https://t.co/vmVoaogLVq pic.twitter.com/Y74UWucRJd
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"The unmanned aircraft attack struck the rebels of a new group on Wednesday evening in Haska Mina and Pachiragam districts," Ahmadzai told Pajhwok Afghan News. He further said there were no civilian casualties in the attack.
Ahmadzai, however, did not identify the terror group and militants. Afghan security officials believed most of the insurgents killed in drone strikes were fighters of the newly emerged extremist group of Islamic State (IS), according to Khama Press.
The U.S. military, in a statement confirmed a "kinetic strike" in Nangarhar "against individuals threatening the force," according to Associated Press.
The Islamic State insurgents have been engage in fierce battle with Taliban to gain control of new territories in Afghanistan. A U.S. watchdog report revealed Thursday that the Islamic State group is growing in Afghanistan.
"The Islamic State's move is emblematic of a larger problem in Afghanistan of fractured insurgencies and an influx of foreign fighters with disparate goals," Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko said in his report, according to Washington Times.
