Hundreds of local citizens in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province have launched an uprising against Islamic State (IS) militants.
“Around 600 local people joined us in the fight against IS,” Haji Ghalib, the Achin district governor, said in an interview with VOA’s Afghan service.
The IS presence has increased recently in the Achin district, which borders Pakistan. “There were around 1,500 fighters initially, but most of them died or were killed in battles with our forces,” Ghalib said.
There has also been an increase in the IS insurgency in other parts of Afghanistan, but especially in Nangarhar province, where IS fighters have launched multiple attacks on Afghan security checkpoints.
The Nangarhar uprising, which surged Thursday, is reportedly a joint effort by Afghan security forces and local residents to rid the Achin district of the IS presence.
“It was very successful,” Ghalib told VOA. “It’s the local people that support the government, and the government supports them back. With this, IS will be defeated in all of Nangarhar province. Even if they go to the farthest mountains, they will be defeated.”
Afghanistan’s Pajhwok news agency reported that 30 IS fighters were killed and a dozen others were wounded in operations in the district. Many fighters have reportedly retreated to Pakistan.
“They are forced to retreat, and they have also taken their families back to Tirah Valley [on the Pakistani side of the border] that they had brought with them,” Ghalib said. “There are only a few fighters in the mountains, and they, too, will soon be forced to leave.”
According to Pajhwok, the public uprising members will be recruited into the Afghan Local Police once the area is cleared of the IS fighters. There are an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 IS militants in the country, according to intelligence reports.
IS has reportedly recruited young soldiers and forced marriages on young women and girls in the areas it controls in Afghanistan.
IS last week released a series of gruesome photos on its website that militants said were taken in Afghanistan. They showed several bodies of men dressed in Afghan military garb who were allegedly killed in battles with IS.
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