Thirty-four terrorists of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group were killed during the last 24 hours in Betshiragham directorate north of Afghanistan as the national military launched a wide-scale campaign to uproot terrorism in the country.

Afghan army said in a statement issued on Thursday that artillery, infantry and air force launched severe blows against ISIL strongholds, killing 25 gunmen in Batshir and Ghondi Khil, and another 8 killed in Kottah Khil in Betshiragham.

Moreover, US drone strikes targeted two top Al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan, American officials said, calling it the most significant attack against the militant group in the country in several years.

The strikes on Sunday in Kunar province targeted Farouq al-Qahtani, Al-Qaeda’s emir for northeastern Afghanistan, and his deputy Bilal al-Utabi.

Multiple Hellfire missiles “leveled” two different compounds in Kunar where the men were believed to be hiding, the military said, voicing confidence that they were killed.

The Pentagon has been actively hunting for Qahtani for four years. He had longstanding ties with Osama Bin Laden before his death in the 2011 US raid on his Pakistan compound.

Qahtani has operated in Afghanistan since at least 2009 and led a Qaeda battalion since at least mid-2010, officials said.

Source: AFP