A top official in the Afghan National Army has claimed that at least 700 ISIS militants were killed in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan in Hamza operations carried out in the last three months.
General Mohammad Zaman Waziri, commander of the 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan National Army said that the ISIS has suffered heavy casualties in encounters in the past two years. Emphasizing that the security forces have foiled all attempts by the terror group, General Waziri said the Afghan army has also been hardly hit during these operations.
In his statement, the General stated that areas where ISIS militants were active had been cleared in a joint operation by Afghan security forces. Security check posts had also been set up in these areas to prevent the militants returning and regaining control.
He alleged that the ISIS militants were being trained on the other side of the Durand Line for insurgency activities along the border. Nangarhar has become a stronghold of ISIS and the anti-government armed militant groups have recently increased their insurgent activities in some parts of the province during the recent years.
The Afghan forces in coordination with the US forces are conducting counter-terrorism operations to eliminate the militants affiliated with the ISIS terrorist group in Nangarhar province.
The growing influence of Islamic State in the country has been a cause of worry for officials for quite some time now amid an already deteriorating security situation and as the state is still fighting Taliban insurgency in some regions.