At least 132 loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed during the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in East of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials said Thursday that the militants were killed in the past six days during the anti-ISIS operations being conducted under the name of Hamza operations.
MoD spokesman General Dawlat Waziri told reporters today that the brother of Hafiz Saeed, a former top ISIS leader was also among those killed.
Saeed's brother was identified as Habibyar who was killed during the operations in the vicinity of Nangarhar province.
Nangarhar is among the relatively calm provinces in eastern Afghanistan but the anti-government armed militant groups have recently increased their insurgency activities in some parts of the province during the recent years.
This comes as the Afghan forces conducted counter-terrorism operations in the restive districts of Nangarhar under the Shaheen-25 operations launched over two months ago.
The operations led by 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces were launched after receiving approval from the national security council of the country.
Both the Afghan and US forces based in Afghanistan are conducting regular operations to suppress the insurgency led by ISIS militants and other insurgent groups including Taliban.
The increased raids by US forces follow a broader role granted to them by the Obama administration earlier last year, a step which was taken amid concerns that the ISIS affiliates are attempting to expand foothold in Afghanistan and turn Nangarhar into their regional operational base.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/6077