Kabul (Web Desk): The head of ISIL (also known as ISIS) in Afghanistan was killed in an operation led by Afghan special forces in the eastern province of Nangarhar last month, US military officialssaid.
Abdul Hasib - appointed last year after his predecessor Hafiz Saeed Khan died in a US drone attack - is believed to have ordered a series of high-profile attacks, including one in March on the main military hospital in Kabul by a group of fighters disguised as doctors, Al Jazeera reported.
US military officials in Afghanistan have previously said Hasib's death would "significantly degrade" the group's operations and "help reach our goal of destroying them in 2017".
Last month, a Pentagon spokesman said Hasib had probably been killed during a raid by US and Afghan special forces in Nangarhar, during which two US Army Rangers were killed. But there was no confirmation.
The compound was located near the tunnel complex where the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear device on April 13, killing 94 fighters, including four commanders.
Afghanistan's government confirmed Hasib's death on April 27.
"He had ordered the attack on 400-bed hospital in Kabul that resulted in the death and injuries of a number of our countrymen, women. The Afghan government is committed to continuing its operations against Daesh and other terrorist groups until they are annihilated," it said in a statement, using another name for ISIL.
