Afghan troops press offensive against Daesh
JALALABAD: When Afghan troops pushed into Kot, a district close to the border with Pakistan, this week, they found many of the houses empty, with posters plastered on the walls and black flags left by departing Daesh fighters.
Backed by US special forces troops and airstrikes that authorities say have killed hundreds of Daesh fighters in recent weeks, the Afghan Army has launched an offensive against the movement, which is now believed to be confined to three or four districts in eastern Afghanistan.
Afghan commanders said they faced little resistance as they pushed into Kot after a heavy air and artillery bombardment as fighters pulled out into nearby mountain areas.
“We have already destroyed their training camps in Kot district and the operations will expand to other districts too,” said Shereen Agha, an Afghan army spokesman.
Provincial government spokesman Attahullah Khogyani said 78 Daesh fighters had been killed in the operation and many bodies had been concealed inside houses to hide the number of fatalities they had suffered.
Five US special forces troops, fighting alongside Afghan special forces, were injured in the fighting. OFFENSE:
Involving both regular army and special forces, the operation in Nangarhar, dubbed “Wrath of the Storm,” coincided with last week’s suicide bombing in Kabul that killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 230 more.
The operation, the Afghan army’s first major strategic offensive of the summer, was planned well before the attack on a demonstration by mainly Hazara people in Kabul.
But that attack, which was immediately claimed by Daesh, added urgency to the operation, which military officials say has pushed Daesh fighters back into the mountains of southern Nangarhar.