Afghan ISIS chief Abdul Hasib killed in raid

It was the third major blow in recent months to the Islamic State in Khorasan, or ISIS-K, the regional branch of the Sunni extremist militia.

It added that the Isis-K leader "was responsible for ordering the attack on the 400-bed hospital in Kabul, kidnapped girls and beheaded elders in front of their families".

Last month, a Pentagon spokesman said Hasib had probably been killed during a raid by US and Afghan special forces in Nangarhar, during which two US Army Rangers were killed.

Thirty-five ISIS fighters and several other unidentified leaders were also killed in the joint American-Afghan raid, the statement said.

In mid-April the USA dropped the largest conventional bomb ever used in combat, colloquially dubbed the "mother of all bombs", against an ISIS-K tunnel complex.

The U.S. says it has 8,400 troops in Afghanistan, one-quarter of which are for the counterterrorism mission. The role of USA -led coalition forces in the latest phase of the offensive was not immediately clear.

Hasib was appointed as the head after Hafiz Saeed Khan, his predecessor was killed in a USA drone strike in July past year. US officials say they may have been killed as the result of friendly fire in the opening minutes of the three-hour battle.

Salvin added that "more than 500" IS fighters have been killed since an offensive began against them in March, though he could not immediately provide an estimate on how many remain.

"Within a few minutes of landing, our combined force came under intense fire from multiple directions and well-prepared fighting positions", the USA military said in a statement.

The militant leader, Abdul Hasib, had overseen a number of bloody attacks that directly challenged the authority of President Ashraf Ghani, including a massacre at the main Afghan army hospital in Kabul that killed at least 50 people.

Abdul Hasib's death was confirmed Sunday by U.S. Forces - Afghanistan.

It said he died 10 days ago in an operation led by Afghan special forces in the eastern Nangarhar province.

USA troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies, who also mainly serve in an advisory capacity - a far cry from the United States presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. The group has suffered massive losses this year, losing control of more than half the districts it had captured since 2015 and fighting both the government and the Taliban.

Other high-ranking IS leaders also are said to have been killed in the April 27 operation.

The Pentagon said Thursday it plans to outline its recommendations on Afghanistan and is expected to urge thousands more troops be committed to break the stalemate with the Taliban.