Afghan forces busted Islamic State network involved in high-profile attacks

Afghan special forces on Wednesday claimed to have busted a network of Daesh/ISIS operatives in the capital Kabul involved in high-profile attacks.

According to the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan secret service, its special forces conducted two coordinated operations to bust the terror network.

The Daesh/ISIS operatives were conducting terror activities in liaison with the Haqqani network, a Taliban offshoot, it added.

The directorate said five militants were killed and eight others taken into custody during the operation. A large cache of arms was also seized.

“This joint network carried out rocket attacks on the presidential palace during the swearing-in ceremony, rampaged through a place of worship for Sikhs in the Afghan capital, and attacked the anniversary ceremony for the death of Abdul Ali Mazari, and Bagram Airbase,” it said, detailing a series of recent high-profile attacks in the country.

Last month, the Afghan intelligence agency announced the arrest of Abdullah Orakzai, also known as Aslam Farooqi, a Pakistani-origin suspected head of Daesh/ISIS in the region. He is wanted for a number of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.

His arrest came days after the group claimed responsibility for killing 25 worshippers in a Sikh house of worship, known as a Gurdwara.

Last November, President Ashraf Ghani declared that Daesh/ISIS had been “obliterated” in Afghanistan, with hundreds of its fighters surrendering to security forces in the east of the country bordering Pakistan.

Source: AA