Afghan forces on Thursday claimed to have killed six terrorists of proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and injured over a dozen in an action in Khost province.
According to sources, the killed militants were identified as Abdul Manan, Alam Khan Mudakhel, and Kajeer while three dead militants remain unnamed.
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Among the injured terrorists are commander Fazl Amin, commander Muhammad alias Toofan, commander Noor Payo Khan, Faqirullah, Tarozai, Sat Kai, Ali Sur Khan, Zubair, Hijratullah, Kamal, Sher Afzal, Bakhtullah, Zubihullah, and two others.
No group or country has claimed responsibility for the attack.
It must be noted that the TTP pledges allegiance to the Afghan Taliban but is not directly a part of the group that rules in Kabul.
The Afghan affiliate of Daesh, known as Daesh Khorasan, after an old name of the region, are enemies of the Taliban. Fighters loyal to Daesh first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014, and later made inroads in other areas.
Earlier this week on Monday Afghan Taliban forces claimed of killing a top Daesh commander who allegedly planned attacks against diplomatic missions in Afghanistan’s capital, a government official said.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on Monday that Taliban forces killed Qari Fateh, the regional Daesh “intelligence and operations chief”, during an operation on Sunday night,
Fateh “directly masterminded recent operations in Kabul, including against diplomatic missions, mosques, and other targets”, Mujahid added.
One other Daesh member was killed in the operation against the cell, which was based in Kabul’s Khair Khana area, according to the statement.
Residents in that neighborhood had reported loud gunfire on Sunday night. Taliban officials posted footage on Twitter of two bodies lying in the debris.
A United Nations Security Council report in July 2022 described Fateh as a key Daesh leader, charged with military operations in an area spanning India, Iran, and Central Asia.
Daesh has emerged as the biggest security challenge to Taliban rule, staging attacks on foreigners, religious minorities, and government institutions.
Daesh claimed responsibility for a December gun raid on a Kabul hotel that wounded five Chinese nationals.
Also in December, the group attacked the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, which the country described as an assassination attempt on the Chargé d’Affaires — Ubaid Ur Rehman Nizamani.
And in January, the group claimed a suicide bombing near the foreign ministry in Kabul that killed at least 10 people.
Two Russian embassy staff members were killed in a suicide bombing outside their mission in September last year, another attack claimed by Daesh.
