Afghan ISIS Leader Likely to Have Been Killed During Combat Operations
The leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) group's Afghanistan affiliate may have been killed in a combat operation this week, the Pentagon said. The emir of the group, which the U.S. military calls the Islamic State-Khorasan or ISIS-K, is Abdul Hasib, a top American target.
On Wednesday night, U.S. and Afghan forces waged a firefight on a fortified ISIS-K compound in Nangarhar province, which is less than a mile away from where the Air Force dropped its so-called "mother of all bombs" this month. The assault included airstrikes and support from an AC-130 gunship, Apache attack helicopters, F-16 fighter jets, and drones.
A released statement said that within a few minutes of landing, the combined force came under intense fire from multiple directions and well-prepared fighting positions. Nevertheless, the forces successfully closed in on the enemy and killed several high-level ISIS-K leaders and upwards of 35 fighters.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"The thought is we got him, but we are not certain," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis stated. If confirmed, the death of Hasib and his associates would "significantly degrade ISIS-K operations in Afghanistan and help reach our goal of destroying them in 2017," the statement added.
Unfortunately, the operation claimed the lives of two rangers, namely, Sgts. Joshua Rodgers, 22, and Cameron Thomas, 23. The Department of Defense has announced a probe to determine whether the two may have been killed by friendly fire. "We are investigating the circumstances of the combat deaths of the two Army Rangers in the beginning of what was an intense three-hour firefight," Davis said.
He added that if the rangers were killed by friendly fire, it was likely unintentional. However, the other soldiers involved in the operation insist that ISIS fighters killed Rodgers and Thomas. "There was no friendly fire. They were killed while engaged with enemy fighters in direct combat," one of them said.
