USA service members were injured while operating near ISIS in Afghanistan

Five members of the U.S. special operation forces have recently sustained injuries in counter-Daesh activities in Afghanistan, Head of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and United States forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Nicholson said in a press briefing on Thursday.

Incoming Commander of Resolute Support forces and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Army General John Nicholson (L) speaks during a change of command ceremony in Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 2, 2016.

Two of the injured service members have returned to duty, while three others were evacuated but are “in good spirits” and are expected to make a full recovery, he said.

In January, president Obama signed an order allowing increased USA airstrikes on ISIS, and in June, did the same for Taliban targets, which U.S.pilots had previously been banned from targeting unless American lives were in danger.

IS militants have seized territory and built up strongholds in parts of Nangarhar Province since Taliban commanders in the area splintered into rival factions – with some declaring loyalty to IS and fighting against Afghan Taliban as well as Afghan government troops.

Because of the uptick in operations, Afghan casualties are trending 20 percent higher than they were in 2015, Nicholson said. Gen. Charles Cleveland, said that ISIS operatives in Afghanistan numbered between 1,000 and 3,000 loyalists – though probably closer to 1,500. During the clearing operation the Americans suffered small arms fire and shrapnel injuries.

“We will continue to stay after Daesh until they are defeated here in Afghanistan”, Nicholson, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Nicholson said a “significant proportion, a majority of fighters” with IS in Afghanistan come from Pakistan’s Orokzai agency, over the border from Nangarhar, and are former members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, also known as the Pakistani Talban.

Hours after the Isis group claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in the capital Kabul that killed around 80 people, on Saturday, the Afghan offensive began.

Locator map showing Ahmad Wal in Pakistan, where Afghan Taliban leader Mullha Akhtar Mansour was reportedly killed by USA drone strikes.