By Zabihullah Tamanna
KABUL
A U.S. drone strike killed at least 14 suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, police revealed Wednesday.
Provincial police spokesman Colonel Hazrat Hussein Mashriqiwal told Anadolu Agency the drone strike targeted a Taliban hideout on Tuesday evening.
“At least 14 suspected Taliban militants were killed after a U.S. drone unleashed a missile toward the militants' hideout in Mach Megai locality of Lalpur district,” Mashriqiwal said.
He said an investigation team was sent to the area on Wednesday morning to verify the nationalities of those killed, and claimed there were no civilian casualties.
In a similar incident in late June, at least six Taliban, including a Pakistani militant, were killed by a drone strike in Bati Kot district.
Tuesday's attack on the Taliban came as the group become increasingly embroiled in a fight with militants claiming loyalty to the Syria-based Daesh.
Earlier this week, an Afghan intelligence official warned that Nangarhar province's security situation had become one of the most worrying in the country's east.
While U.S.-led foreign forces withdrew from combat operations in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, there has been an increase in the number of drone strikes against militants, especially on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
