JULY 9, 2015
ISIS Leaders Reported Killed in Drone Strike in Afghanistan
By ISMAIL KHAN
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Two senior Pakistani militants who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State were among at least 24 people killed in an American drone strike in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, Pakistani and Afghan security officials said Thursday.
Afghan officials described one of the men, Gul Zaman, as the deputy leader of the Islamic State in Afghanistan. The other commander, Shahidullah Shahid, had been the main spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban until he joined Islamic State last year.
Though officials do not yet consider the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, to be a major threat in either Pakistan or Afghanistan, the group has drawn increased support from disaffected Taliban militants on both sides of the border over the past year.
A senior Pakistani official in Peshawar said both men had been killed alongside several other militants in an American drone strike in Nangarhar Province, in eastern Afghanistan, on Monday. The official said the drone strike had targeted a leadership council meeting of the so-called Islamic State in Khorasan, an old term that includes Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, confirmed the deaths in a public statement. The total toll from the strike was unclear, with Afghan reports ranging from 24 to 45 deaths.
Mr. Shahid announced his allegiance to the Islamic State after the Pakistani military began an offensive last year in the North Waziristan tribal region, which had long been a safe haven for the militants in northwestern Pakistan.
That offensive, and a parallel operation in the Tirah Valley in Khyber tribal agency, forced many militants to flee across the border into Afghanistan.
Gul Zaman, also known as Mullah Fateh, had been second-in-command to the regional head of Islamic State, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. It was not clear whether Mr. Saeed was present at the meeting, the Pakistani official said.
"It was a pretty massive hit," said the Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and said he was citing sources inside Afghanistan. "So many I.S. fighters and commanders have been killed in one go."
The official said that Pakistani Taliban fighters based inside Afghanistan had retrieved the bodies from the wreckage of the targeted building. Officials say that the Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban have been engaged in a violent turf battle in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
Ahmad Shakib contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan.