A senior leader of the Islamic State was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday during a U.S. counterterrorism strike.
Chief military spokesman Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell confirmed that an airstrike took place targeting Abu Sayeed Orakzai. O’Donnell then referred the Washington Examiner to a tweet from Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani’s deputy spokesperson confirming Orakzai’s death.
“The United States unrelentingly continues its counterterrorism efforts against ISIS-K, al Qaeda, and other regional and international terrorist groups,” he said. “These efforts are unlike the nationwide Afghan-led offensive targeting Taliban irreconcilables who refuse to listen to the calls of the Afghan people for them to take the courageous step towards peace and reconciliation.”
O’Donnell said the U.S. counterterrorism effort is targeting the “real enemies of Afghanistan.”
Ten other Islamic State fighters were killed in the strike. The U.S. has increased the number of airstrikes in Afghanistan after successfully driving a large number of Islamic State members out of Iraq and Syria, according to a CNN report last year.
