At least 86 members of the Islamic State terror organisation, including several commanders, have been killed and 38 others injured in two operations by Afghan security forces, military sources say.
In the eastern province of Nangarhar, Afghan troops launched an offensive Monday, in which 60 IS fighters died and 18 were injured, Shirin Aqha Faqiri, spokesperson for the Afghan National Army's 201st Selab Corps, said.
Faqiri added that one civilian had died and another 10 were wounded in the operation, blaming the casualties on IS militants who allegedly used the civilians as "human shields".
The wounded have been taken to local hospitals.
In the northern province of Jawzjan, 26 IS members were killed and 20 wounded in an aerial operation that also left almost 20 wounded in two villages in Darzab district, considered an IS stronghold in northern Afghanistan.
Spokesperson for the 209th Shaheen Corps, Nasratullah Jamshidi, said that among the dead were two foreigners and several top IS commanders, including the second highest member of the group in northern Afghanistan, Qari Shujah.
IS established itself in Afghanistan in 2015, setting up its stronghold in Nangarhar on the Pakistani border, a key region in communications between the two countries.
