Kabul [Afghanistan]: The Afghan National Army has deployed commandos from its Special Operations to Tora Bora valley, which earlier hosted a hideout of slain al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden, days after the Islamic State’s offshoot in Afghanistan claimed the capture of the area.
Acting Afghan Defence Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami told reporters in Kabul on Saturday that operations are underway in the area and developments regarding the clearance of the area are expected soon, the Khaama Press reported.
This comes as the ISIS offshoot in Afghanistan, ISIS Khurasan, said earlier that it has captured Laden’s hideout in the remote Tora Bora valley in eastern Nangarhar province.
Afghan officials, however, rejected the claims.
The provincial governor’s spokesman Ataullah Khogyani also confirmed that the ISIS fighters have managed to get close to Tora Bora area but he said the area has not been fully captured.
The growing influence of Islamic State in the country has been a cause of worry for officials for quite some time now amid an already deteriorating security situation and as the state is still fighting Taliban insurgency in some regions. (ANI)