Infighting kills 20 militants in western Afghanistan
At least 20 militants have been killed in fresh clashes between the ISIL terrorist group and Taliban militants in the troubled western Afghanistan.
Hanif Rezaye, a regional spokesman for the Afghan National Army (ANA), said on Monday that the deadly clashes took place in the Anar Dara district of Farah province.
Rezaye confirmed that at least 15 ISIL and five Taliban militants were killed during the fierce infighting, adding that it left nearly two dozen injured on both sides.
The Taliban militants reportedly seized at least 12 ISIL militants during the fighting that lasted for 20 hours.
The latest fighting broke out after ISIL, which controls swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, sought to establish sanctuaries in areas traditionally seen as Taliban strongholds.
This came days after at least 16 militants affiliated with the Taliban and ISIL were killed following a series of aerial attacks across Herat and Farah provinces on Friday.
Also on May 25, more than two dozen militants were killed in a fierce fighting between the Taliban and the ISIL terrorist group in the Khaki Safed district of Farah province.
The ISIL Takfiri group has reportedly been recruiting militants in the war-torn country in recent months. It has demanded that the local Taliban pledge allegiance to the ISIL leader, Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The terrorist group is making use of a sophisticated social media campaign in order to woo local Taliban militants.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has warned in a recent speech that the presence of ISIL is worse than al-Qaeda for Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has been witnessing a massive influx of foreign militants from a host of countries over the past years
Foreign troops and Afghan forces have failed to maintain security across Afghanistan 13 years after the United States and its NATO allies invaded the country in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.
The US-led Western military alliance in Afghanistan officially ended its combat mission on December 31, 2014. However, about 1,400 foreign troops, mostly Americans, have remained in Afghanistan in what the US is calling a support mission.
JR/MHB/AS
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