Officials claimed on Friday that 90 people, among them 40 belonging to the militant Islamic State group, were killed in air strikes and clashes in two provinces of war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Afghan aircraft killed more than 40 fighters loyal to IS in a raid conducted in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Thursday.
Although casualty claim is difficult to verify, Thursday’s operation appears to have been an unusually large strike by Afghanistan’s fledgling air force, which has been building up its capacity since the withdrawal of the Nato-led coalition from most combat operations in 2014.
“Based on our intelligence, the Afghan air force carried out the strike and killed more than 40 IS fighters,” said an Afghan official.
He said the militants had gathered to launch attacks in Nangarhar, bordering tribal areas of Pakistan.
The Afghan army public relations directorate said that 42 IS militants had been killed in a joint operation in Nangarhar and a training centre destroyed. It said the Afghan air force had carried out 83 fighting operations around the country, causing heavy casualties to both the Taliban and IS.
‘Jaw-breaking answer’
Abdul Wasay Basil, spokesman for the governor of Kunduz province, said that more than 50 Taliban had been killed and 60 others wounded after the Taliban launched a major offensive in the province on Friday.
Kunduz Governor Asadullah Omarkhil said in a video statement, “They (Taliban) dreamed of capturing the city of Kunduz, but they faced a jaw-breaking answer from Afghan forces.”
On Tuesday, the insurgents announced the start of their “spring offensive” even as the government in Kabul tries to bring them back to the negotiating table to end the conflict.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the NDS national intelligence service issued a statement claiming that a key Taliban official had been captured.
The statement claimed that Qari Youssef, the Taliban’s shadow governor for Khost province, was captured on Tuesday while dressed in women’s clothing to avoid arrest.