<p><a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">KABUL</a> (Pajhwok): Afghan National Army (ANA) commandos, advised by US Special Forces, continue offensive operations against Islamic State militants in eastern Nangarhar province.</p>
<p>Commandos from the first and second and eighth Special Operations and 8th Special Operations Kandaks have been fighting against the Daesh rebels since late May in Deh Bala district.</p>
<p>A statement from the US military said on Friday Afghan and US forces met local villagers to discuss the ISIS-K presence in in Deh Bala. A village elder spoke of the group’s atrocities, forcing villagers to flee homes.</p>
<p>“We were forced out of our homes and compelled to flee to other areas,” said one tribal elder from the district. “They are like a cancer in the area.”</p>
<p>In the past six months, ISIS-K has twice been uprooted from its declared caliphates in Kot and Achin districts by Afghan Special Security Forces.</p>
<p>At the request of local elders, Afghan commandos launched airstrikes to end ISIS-K control of villages in northern Deh Bala, the US military added.</p>
<p>“The villagers support the commandos and are eager to return to their homes,” said a US Special Forces advisor.</p>
<p>The largest contingent of Afghan commandos ever assembled for a joint special operations mission is leading the fight to remove ISIS-K from Nangarhar.</p>
<p>With day and nighttime operations having driven ISIS-K from villages in northern Deh Bala, commandos continue the push to reclaim villages for their fellow Afghans.</p>
<p>Commandos had killed almost 160 ISIS-K to date and have destroyed cave entrances, tunnels and structures, reducing ISIS-K safe havens, the statement concluded.</p>
<p>pr/mud</p>
