Abdul Hasib, leader of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, responsible for bold attacks that spooked the local security establishment, was killed by US special forces in April, according to a statement by President Ashraf Ghani Sunday.
Abdul Hasib, who had orchestrated numerous attacks, including a massacre of some 50 people at the main Afghan Army hospital in Kabul, was killed on April 27 in eastern Nangarhar Province, near Pakistan. The president’s statement explained the delay in making the announcement saying he had waited for verification of the kill.
“The Afghan government is committed to continuing its operations against [ISIS] and other terrorist groups until they are annihilated,” the statement concluded.
The United States military command in Afghanistan said in a statement Sunday that the raid carried out by American forces had eliminated Abdul Hasib and as many as 35 other terrorists.
NATO commander in Afghanistan General John Nicholson confirmed the killing and promised that “any ISIS member that comes to Afghanistan will meet the same fate.”
According to the US Forces-Afghanistan, the local ISIS affiliate, whose numbers had reached as many as 3,000, has been plagued with defections and battlefield losses (including, most recently, the MOAB attack), dropping its ranks to no more than 800.
