Head Of Islamic State In Afghanistan Killed In US Air Strike

Still image taken from an ISIS propaganda video

The leader of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Saad Erhabi, was killed in a US strike in Nangarhar province, Afghan and US officials said.

A spokesman for the Afghan president confirmed that the senior leader of the extremist group had died in an operation, near the border with Pakistan.

Erhabi is the fourth Afghan leader of the group to be killed in recent years.

Lieutenant Colonel Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, said American forces launched a counter-terrorism strike in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday that targeted a "senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation".

He did not provide further details although 10 other members of the group are reported to have died in the attack.

The IS affiliate emerged in Afghanistan in 2014 and has carried out scores of attacks targeting security forces and the country's Shiite minority.

Even with US and Nato support, Afghan security forces have struggled to combat IS and the more well-established Taliban.