Afghan forces kill ISIS intelligence official

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s intelligence service said the country’s special forces killed a high-ranking official with the Islamic State group’s local affiliate in an operation in eastern Afghanistan.

A statement late Saturday by the National Directorate of Security said the slain militant was Assadullah Orakzai, an intelligence leader for the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan. The statement said he was killed near Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, where the Islamic State affiliate is headquartered.

Orakzai was suspected of being involved in several deadly attacks against both military and civilian targets in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has seen a recent spike in violence, with most attacks claimed by the Islamic State affiliate.

Still, a United Nations report last week said Afghanistan saw a 13% drop in the number of civilians killed and wounded in violence across the country in the first six months of the year compared with the same period last year.

The report credited the drop in casualties in part to the reduction of operations by international forces — which now only act when called upon and in support of the Afghan forces — and also to a decrease in the number of attacks by the Islamic State, also know as ISIS.

The report said the U.N. had recorded 17 attacks by the Islamic State that caused civilian casualties during the first six months of 2020, down from 97 attacks in the same period last year. Overall, the U.N. said 1,282 people were killed in the first six months of 2020 and 2,176 were wounded.

Another U.N. report last month estimated there are about 2,200 Islamic State members in Afghanistan, and said that while its leadership has been depleted, the Islamic State still counts among its leaders a Syrian national, Abu Said Mohammad al-Khorasani. The report also said the monitoring team had received information that two senior Islamic State commanders, Abu Qutaibah and Abu Hajar al-Iraqi, had recently arrived in Afghanistan from the Middle East.

“Although in territorial retreat, [the Islamic State] remains capable of carrying out high-profile attacks in various parts of the country, including Kabul. It also aims to attract Taliban fighters who oppose the agreement with the United States,” the report said, referring to the U.S. peace deal signed with the Taliban in February.

That deal was struck to allow the U.S. to end its 19-year involvement in Afghanistan, and calls on the Taliban to guarantee its territory will not be used by terrorist groups. The deal is also expected to guarantee the Taliban’s allout participation in the fight against the Islamic State.

In March, a lone Islamic State gunman rampaged through a Sikh house of worship in the heart of the Afghan capital, killing 25 worshippers and wounding eight. The gunman held many people hostage for several hours while Afghan special forces, helped by international troops, tried to clear the building. At least one of the dead was a child.

Within hours, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

The U.S. also blamed the Islamic State for an attack in May on a maternity hospital in Kabul that killed 24 people, including newborn infants.