Alwaght-At least 30 terrorists were killed during clashes between loyalists of the Taliban and ISIS Takfiri terrorist groups in eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.
Provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqwal said the clashes took place in Da Nari Aab area of Haska Mina district on Sunday.
He said a commander of ISIS terrorists identified as Zamin was killed along with 10 other loyalists of the terror group and 15 others were wounded.
Mashriqwal further added that 6 Taliban terrorists were also killed during the clash and 4 others were wounded.
Meanwhile, Local officials, at least 2 ISIS loyalists were also killed during an airstrike involving unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) in Achin district on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Mashriqwal said a commander of the Taliban group who was involved in insurgency activities in Shenwar district, joined peace process as a result of the efforts of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) forces.
The Taliban commander has been identified as Fateh Khan who is originally a resident of Kunar in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban terrorist group has not commented regarding the report so far.
While the Afghan Taliban and ISIS are often classified as Takfiri extremist groups, the outlook of these two groups is different and even at odds with each other.
ISIS seeks to violently establish its distorted version of Islam in all Muslim states and beyond. However, the Taliban accepts Afghanistan as a nation-state and actually takes pride in the history of Afghanistan. The group’s leaders have frequently declared that "their jihad" is only limited to their own country i.e. Afghanistan. For ISIS terrorist group, the most important thing is to pledge allegiance to their ringleader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, while the Taliban militants are currently devoted to their new chieftain, Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor.
ISIS terrorists have been involved in “direct rivalry” with Taliban terrorists in several provinces across crisis-torn Afghanistan.
ISIS surfaced in Afghanistan in early 2015, aiming to capture and consolidate territory in the “Khorasan Province,” that would be loyal to a “caliphate” based in Syria and Iraq.
In October, Russia warned that with parts of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan joining ISIS terror group, there is an imminent threat of the terrorists invading Central Asia.