WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A joint US-Afghan military operation in Nangarhar province targeted the headquarters of Daesh-Khorasan (banned in Russia) affiliate and likely resulted in death of a Daesh leader and 35 other operatives, US Department of Defense spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis said on Friday.
"The target of this mission was an ISIS-K [Daesh] headquarters compound," Davis told reporters. "US Special Operations forces killed several senior ISIS-K leaders, along with about 35 ISIS operatives…The enemy that we were targeting in this was Abdul Hasid. He was the ISIS emir in Afghanistan…We suspect he was killed in this."
The Defense Department said Hasib controlled Daesh operations in Afghanistan and as well as the affiliate's connections to the rest of the terrorist network.
Two US Army Rangers were killed in the operation and another was wounded. Davis said there was no indication their deaths were intentional.
"We are investigating the circumstances of the combat deaths of Army rangers," Davis told reporters. "It is possible these Rangers were struck by friendly fire."
US Forces-Afghanistan said in a statement that they do not have any indication civilians were killed or injured in the raid.
Afghanistan is in a state of political and social turmoil, with government forces fighting the continuing Taliban insurgency. The instability has persisted in the country since the 2001 US-led invasion to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
The lack of control and instability turned the country into home to the largest opium poppy production and distribution network in the world.
