US drone strike 'kills 14 Isis militants in Afghanistan

Afghan officials say strike killed militants in Kunar province on Thursday but local MP claims victims were civilians

A US drone strike has killed 14 Islamic State militants, Afghan officials say.

The strike took place in a remote area of Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province on Thursday afternoon.

Abdul Ghani Musamim, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told the Associated Press that the drone had targeted a meeting of Isis commanders who were planning a terrorist attack.

The government has no control of the area where Afghanistan’s Isis affiliate has managed to establish a presence.

The spokesman for Afghanistan’s ministry of defence, Dawlat Waziri, also confirmed the report but there has been no immediate comment from the US-led forces in Afghanistan.

The MP for Kunar province, Shahzada Shaheed, challenged the report, however, claiming the victims of the strike were civilians.

The US has been bombing in Afghanistan since late 2001 and airstrikes have continued under the Trump administration, with many recent drone strikes and special operations missions aimed at Isis strongholds.

Islamic State’s presence has grown in the country over the last few years and the US estimates that there are around 600 to 800 Isis fighters in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar.

Thousands of US troops remain in Afghanistan. where they also help Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban in various parts of the country.

The US used the biggest non-nuclear bomb ever dropped in combat against Isis in Nangarhar in April, targeting a tunnel complex carved into the mountains.