KABUL – * US Forces confirmed Monday they had killed a top Islamic Statecommander in Afghanistan in an airstrike, describing the leader as “key” toforeign fighters entering the country’s north.*
Qari Hikmatullah — also spelled Hekmat — and his bodyguard were killed inthe northern province of Faryab on Thursday, US Forces-Afghanistan said ina statement.
The airstrike happened in Bal Chiragh district, the statement said. Thatborders Darzab district in Jowzjan province, which Afghan officials onSaturday had given as the location of the airstrike. Some had also said theincident happened on Friday.
Hikmatullah was a “native Uzbek” who previously belonged to other militantgroups, including the Taliban, before joining IS’s local franchise innorthern Afghanistan, US Forces said.
The group has established a stronghold in Jowzjan after coming underintense pressure in the eastern province of Nangarhar.Afghanistan’s defence ministry said on Saturday that Hikmatullah wasinvolved in or responsible for “deadly terrorist attacks” and had beenreplaced by Mawlawi Habib-ul-Rahman.
General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, vowed to kill“any successors” to Hikmatullah, adding that IS would be “eliminated”.
Asked about the discrepancy in the location of the airstrike, defenceministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP on Monday that some districtborders were not marked clearly. – APP/AFP