The Islamic State extremist group's leader in Afghanistan was killed during an April 27 joint raid in eastern Nangarhar province, the Afghan government and USA forces in Kabul said yesterday.
Logari directed the March 8 attack against Kabul National Military Hospital, in which more than 100 people were killed or wounded, the Pentagon said.
Afghan commandos operate alongside U.S. special forces in Nangarhar, where two USA service members were killed on April 26, one day before the raid that killed the Islamic State leader.
Other high ranking leaders and of the terrorist network's regional branch, ISIS-K, were also killed, along with 35 ISIS fighters. On April 13, it dropped the non-nuclear "mother of all bombs" in Nangarhar, saying it was targeting a system to tunnels used by Islamic State fighters.
Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of USA forces in Afghanistan, said Hasib's death marked "another important step in our relentless campaign to defeat ISIS-K in 2017".
Wissing noted insurgents now control about half of Afghanistan, and the Taliban are operating shadow governments in virtually every province despite the continued presence of 8,400 USA troops.
Daesh-K maintains links with the main Daesh movement in Iraq and Syria but it has a lot of operational independence.
Afghan and USA special forces launched a counteroffensive against ISIS-K in early March, backed up by drone strikes, killing hundreds of its fighters and clearing numerous villages.
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In July, former President Barack Obama said that 8,400 US troops would remain in Afghanistan this year, reversing earlier plans to reduce the force to 5,500.
Authorities in Afghanistan say that fresh airstrikes in an eastern volatile region have killed at least 34 Islamic State militants and destroyed a radio station the terrorist group was using for extremist propaganda.
On the other hand, the Afghan Taliban, that have control over around 40 percent of the area have launched their spring offensive aimed at targeting foreign troops.
"This is the second ISIS-K emir we have killed in nine months", Gen. John Nicholson, Commander U.S. Forces - Afghanistan, said in a statement. 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.
Two US commandos were killed in the raid that targeted Hasib in April.
Islamic State has not yet commented on whether its chief for Afghanistan-Pakistan operations has been eliminated.
The U.S. has been in Afghanistan since 2001, when American troops overthrew the Taliban regime that was in power at the time.
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