At Least 30 Daesh Militants, Three Civilians Killed in Eastern Afghanistan

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Daesh militants began carrying out attacks against Afghan police targets in Nangarhar's Kot district early Friday morning, the TOLOnews channel reported.

"In this clash 15 civilians were killed and wounded including women and children," Nangarhar governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said, as quoted by the news channel.

He specified that three of them, including one child, were killed and 12, including three children, were injured.

The militants have also set several buildings on fire and kidnapped a number of women, the media outlet reported, citing local residents.

Afghanistan has been experiencing significant political, social and security-related instability for decades, as radical extremist organizations, including the Taliban, continue to stage attacks against civilian and military targets. More recently, a splinter group formed an Afghan Daesh affiliate.

The Daesh extremist group overran large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2014, with affiliates operating in Afghanistan, Libya, Nigeria and other parts of the world across North Africa and South Asia.

In late May, the Afghanistan National Security Council, chaired by President Ashraf Ghani, adopted a strategy to counter Daesh extremists, granting special powers to the country's security forces.