Afghan airstrikes kill four militants in Northern Faryab province

MAIMANA: Four militants have been confirmed dead as fighting planes stormed Taliban gathering in Dawlat Abad district of Afghanistan’s northern Faryab province on Tuesday, army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said Wednesday.
A group of Taliban insurgents were gathered in Shashpar area of the restive Dawlat Abad district on Tuesday to attack security checkpoints but the security forces’ fighting aircrafts in preemptive offensive struck the militants’ gathering Tuesday afternoon killing four and wounding seven others, Rezai asserted.
Rezai also added that a Taliban local commander Mawlawi Shafi, who served as the in charge of collecting taxes from agricultural products in the province is also among those killed in the air raids. Taliban militants haven’t commented.
Meanwhile, Units of Special Forces have arrested a top commander of the hardliner Islamic State (IS) group in the eastern Kunar province, said an army statement released here Wednesday.
According to the statement, the units of Special Forces launched the special operation in Babir village of Chawkay district late Tuesday, which lasted for a while when Khan Sayed, the key commander of the hardliner IS outfit was arrested.
The arrested man was in charge of transferring foreign militants and their families to different parts of Afghanistan, the statement said, adding that Khan Sayed was also involved in organizing recent deadly attack on a jail in Jalalabad city the capital of Kunar’s neighboring Nangarhar province.
In the attack at Jalalabad central jail from Sunday to Monday, for which the hardliner IS outfit claimed responsibility, 37 persons including eight attackers were killed, some 50 others injured and nearly 300 inmates escaped, according to officials.
The arrest of top commander is the second blow to the hardliner group in Afghanistan over the past couple of weeks.
Afghan forces in similar operation had killed Assadullah Orakzai, the so-called intelligence chief of IS outfit for Afghanistan outside Jalalabad city last week.
IS outfit has yet to make comment.