IS leader of Afghanistan and Pakistan killed in United States drone strike

Hafiz Saeed was killed in a US airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province last month, the Pentagon announced Friday, as Afghan forces mount an operation against the militants after they claimed the deadliest attack in Kabul for 15 years.

Hafiz Saeed Khan was killed in a strike July 26 in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, the Pentagon said.

US and coaliton officials have yet to confirm reports of Saeed’s death, however it is not the first time American and allied forces believed they had killed the infamous terror commander.

“ISIL-K uses the area to train, equip, disseminate and control fighter pipelines, providing ISIL-K commanders throughout Afghanistan with a continuous supply of enemy fighters from this province”, he added.

Nangarhar Province, where Khan was killed, has been a “hotbed” of ISIS activity for more than a year, defense officials said.

Saeed Khan masterminded attacks including the group’s first ever deadliest in Kabul last month, killing almost 80 people belonging to Hazara community.

Afghanistan’s intelligence agency mistakenly reported in July 2015 that Khan had been killed in a drone strike.

The Islamic State group, which has been building a presence in Afghanistan for more than a year, has established a recruitment and training camp in a restive southern province bordering Pakistan.

Taliban fighters have been threatening at least two provincial capitals this summer, in Helmand and Kunduz, and a US government report said Afghan forces have lost 5 percent of territory this year.

The spokesman for US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan, Brig.

The Takfiri terrorists last month claimed responsibility for a bombing at a demonstration held by the Shia Hazara community in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where at least 80 people were killed. The loss of the head to the ISIS groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan was a major blow to jihadists, yet they still intend to carry on the fight, as observers noted this week.

Pentagon officials believe Khan’s death will have an immediate disrupting impact on ISIS’s ability to recruit in the region.

Afghan soldiers and US troops march toward Gerekheyl village during a patrol in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.

Khan is a former commander of the Pakistani Taliban who a year ago pledged allegiance to ISIS’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.