KABUL, Afghanistan: A senior Pakistani militant leading the Afghanistan and Pakistan chapter of the Daesh terror group was killed in an air strike by US forces in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, Afghan officials said on Saturday.

The death of the senior militant, Hafiz Saeed Khan, who defected from the Pakistani Taliban last year and was introduced as the head of the Daesh in the region in January, could not be confirmed independently. Twitter accounts associated with the Daesh rejected the news, suggesting it was a false rumour similar to reports of his killing that circulated in April.

Twenty-nine other militants were killed in Friday’s air strike, in the Achin District of eastern Nangarhar province, officials said. It was the second time in a week that US forces, working on intelligence provided by the Afghan government, targeted Daesh fighters in Afghanistan.

Abdul Hassib Sediqi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, said, “As a result of an air strike in Achin district on a gathering place of individuals connected to Daesh, 30 of their members, including their leader, Hafiz Saeed, were killed.” Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the Daesh.

Sediqi said Khan’s identity was confirmed when his body was identified. A spokesman for the Pentagon confirmed a “precision strike in Achin,” but declined to provide further details about the targets of the strike, or to comment on whether any particular militant leaders were killed. At least one Afghan official said the strike that killed Khan was delivered by a drone.

The strike in Afghanistan came on the back of a larger US air offensive against the Daesh in Iraq and Syria. In the previous 24 hours, according to a military statement, the coalition carried out 34 strikes — 17 each in Iraq and Syria — hitting Daesh buildings, bunkers, vehicles and resupply positions.

Afghan officials have long downplayed the threat posed by the Daesh to Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying it is the same old Taliban fighting under a new name. But comments from officials in recent weeks, and the increase in operations specifically targeting former Taliban fighters who pledged allegiance to the Daesh, suggest that the group is now seen as dangerous to the region’s stability.

In a meeting with the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, on Friday, President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan said the Daesh was “a threat for security of the region.”

The Afghan intelligence agency has also reported the creation of a special unit to follow Daesh activities. The agency recently released a five-minute video of what it said was its “special force for fighting Daesh.”

Reports of Khan’s killing in Achin came days after coalition forces targeted a leadership council meeting of the Daesh in the same district. In that strike, on Monday, Khan’s deputy, Gul Zaman, and one of his senior commanders, Shahidullah Shahid — formerly the main spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban — were killed. The total toll from the strike was unclear, with Afghan reports ranging from 24 to 45 deaths.

Many of the Pakistani militants fled to eastern Afghanistan after the Pakistani military launched an offensive in its tribal areas last year. Some parts of the east, particularly in Nangarhar province, have turned into battle zones between the Afghan Taliban and militants who have pledged allegiance to the Daesh.

Also Saturday, a blast in southern Kandahar province killed three children and wounded six others, officials said. Samim Khaplwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor, said explosives had been placed in a pillow near a religious school on the outskirts of the city of Kandahar.

“We do not know if the targets were the children,” Khaplwak said.

— New York Times News Service