US drone strikes kill 66 Taliban, 'Daesh' fighters

By Zabihullah Tamanna

KABUL

U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan have killed at least 66 Taliban and self-proclaimed Daesh fighters, Afghan officials said Wednesday. 

The seven strikes in four districts of eastern Nangarhar province represented an apparent intensification in drone attacks against the militants and, according to the provincial governor's spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, killed local Taliban commander Mawlawi Noor Alam.

“At least 46 suspected Taliban militants were killed after a U.S. drone unleashed missiles towards a militants convoy and hideouts in Haska Mina and Sherzad districts,” Abdulzai said. 

Other strikes in Haska Mina and Deh Bala districts killed at least 20 fighters who claim to represent Syria-based Daesh. 

Abdulzai said none of those killed were civilians. Though the U.S. has always insisted its drones precisely target militants, anti-drone activists in countries where they operate claim a high proportion of victims are civilians. 

In a similar attack, two prominent Taliban commanders were killed by a U.S. drone strike on Tuesday in the Marja district of southern Helmand province.

Pakistan-bordering Nangarhar has been rocked in recent months by fighting between the Taliban and Daesh fighters, who are mainly defected Taliban members. 

Since ending their official combat role in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, U.S.-led foreign forces have increased the number of drone strikes against militants in Afghanistan, especially around and across the border with Pakistan. 

Separately, the Afghan interior ministry claimed to have killed 88 militants across the country over the past 24 hours.