Saeed Emarati, Daesh’s military leader for eastern Nangarhar province, was killed in a military operation on Monday, local officials said.
The operation took place in Kot district of the province after insurgents clashed with special forces, a spokesman for the provincial governor Attaullah Khoghyani said.
He said that Emarati was recently appointed as the group’s military leader in Kot.
However, he did not provide details on the clash.
After two years of heavy casualties, the Afghan military is trying to retake the initiative in the war against militants with a new offensive planned for this week against Daesh – an assault that will see American troops back on the battlefield working more closely with Afghan soldiers, according to AP.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani recently announced a major assault against fighters loyal to Daesh, who over the past year captured positions along Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan, mainly in Nangarhar province.
That goal to uproot Daesh from Afghanistan has taken on new urgency in the wake of Saturday’s deadly suicide bombing at a protest march in Kabul that killed at least 80 people.
In an acknowledgment of the deteriorating security situation, President Barack Obama last month gave a green light to a more assertive role for U.S troops, though still short of direct combat.
In a further acknowledgement of the deteriorating security situation, Obama this month pledged to keep 8,400 troops in the country through 2017, delaying plans to reduce troop numbers to 5,500 by the end of this year.
There are currently some 9,800 U.S troops in the country.
tolonews.com
