Attaullah Khogyani, the spokesman for the provincial governor, said on Friday that 12 Daesh terrorists had been killed and five others wounded as Afghan forces launched an operation in the Achin district of the beleaguered province, east of the capital, Kabul, the previous night.

He added that three Afghan government troopers also sustained injuries during the offensive.

On November 6, Haji Ghalib, the governor of Achin, said 32 Daesh terrorists had been slain in the area during a counter-terror operation. Ghalib said a radio base used by Daesh elements in Afghanistan in order for them to be in touch with fellow militants in Iraq and neighboring Syria was also destroyed in the operation.

Nangarhar has been witnessing a rise in the number of Daesh terrorists in some of its districts in recent months.

On June 16, the Afghan Taliban militant group warned Daesh ringleader Ibrahim al-Samarrai, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, against “waging a parallel insurgency in Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity 14 years after the United States and its allies attacked the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. Although the 2001 attack overthrew the Taliban, many areas across Afghanistan still face violence and insecurity; Press TV reported.

S/SH