US general warns ISIS after strike that killed local leader
Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports from the Pentagon
Dozens of Islamic State fighters were killed over the weekend by the Afghan air force making a string of gains in the same area where U.S. forces helped take out the region's ISIS boss, the government announced on Monday.
At least 34 ISIS fighters were killed in airstrikes in eastern Nangarhar province, Afghan officials said. That’s the same area where the terror group’s top local commander was killed by Afghan and U.S. military forces in April.
Confirmation of the death of Abdul Hasseeb Logari, the ISIS chief in Nangarhar, came on Sunday night from the Pentagon. Logari was among several senior leaders of the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan and was killed in an April 27 raid jointly conducted by Afghan Special Security Forces and the U.S.
Logari was responsible for ordering a March attack on a military hospital in Kabul, according to the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, which also confirmed the terror leader's death. Around 50 people were killed and many others injured in that attack.
ISIS CHIEF IN AFGHANISTAN KILLED IN APRIL RAID
He was the second leader of ISIS in Afghanistan to be killed in the last nine months according to General John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in the country.
Logari had “waged a barbaric campaign of death, torture and violence against the Afghan people, especially those in southern Nangarhar," Nicholson said.
Two U.S. Army Rangers died in the raid in which Logari was killed. They may have been killed as the result of friendly fire at the start of the three-hour fight, U.S. officials said.
PAKISTANI ARMY: ABOUT 50 AFGHAN FORCES KILLED, CHECKPOINTS DESTROYED
More than 50 Rangers and dozens of other partnered Afghan forces battled ISIS for over three hours in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, taking fire from all sides, according to the Pentagon.
As part of a growing effort against the terror group, the Afghan Air Force has also recently geared strikes toward ISIS hideouts in Nazyan and Achin districts.
"This fight strengthens our resolve to rid Afghanistan of these terrorists and bring peace and stability to this great country. Any ISIS member that comes to Afghanistan will meet the same fate,” Nicholson said.
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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