KABUL (Dispatches) – The head of Daesh in Afghanistan, Abu Saad Erhabi, was killed in a strike on the group’s hideouts in Nangarhar province on Saturday night, authorities said on Sunday.
Ten other members of the terrorist group were also killed in a joint ground and air operation by Afghan and foreign forces, the National Directorate of Security in Kabul said in a statement.
A large amount of heavy and light weapons and ammunition were destroyed during raids on two Daesh hideouts.
The terrorist group’s Amaq’s news agency carried no comment on the issue.
The provincial governor of Nangarhar said Erhabi was the fourth Daesh ringleader in Afghanistan to be killed since July 2017.
The group has developed a stronghold in Nangarhar, on Afghanistan’s porous eastern border with Pakistan, and become one of the country’s most dangerous terrorist groups.
Since late last year, Daesh, which has already lost all its urban strongholds in Syria and Iraq, has taken advantage of the chaos in Afghanistan and established a foothold in the country’s eastern and northern regions, launching brutal attacks against civilians and security forces alike.
According to Afghan intelligence documents, Daesh is present in nine provinces, from Nangarhar and Kunar in the east to Jawzjan, Faryab, and Badakhshan in the north, and Ghor in the central west.
In November last year, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the United States was colluding with Daesh in Afghanistan and allowing the Takfiri group to flourish in the war-stricken country.
The exact number of Daesh terrorists in Afghanistan is difficult to calculate since they frequently switch allegiances, but the U.S. military estimates that there are about 2,000.
Early this month, more than 150 Daesh terrorists surrendered to Afghan security forces in the northern province of Jawzjan, where the group is fighting for control of smuggling routes into neighboring Turkmenistan.
Crisis-hit Afghanistan also suffers from scores of deadly terror attacks by the Taliban militant group almost across the country.
 
 The file photo shows forces of the U.S. Army and Afghanistan's military in a checkpoint during a patrol against the Daesh terrorists at Deh Bala district in the eastern province of Nangarhar, July 7, 2018.