The leader of ISIL in Afghanistan was killed in air strikes in eastern Nangarhar province, the fourth head of the armed group to die since it emerged in the country in recent years.

Abu Saad Erhabi and 10 other Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) members died in a joint operation with coalition forces on Saturday night, the National Directorate of Security said in a statement on Sunday.

"The emir of Daesh in Afghanistan - along with 10 others - was killed," it said, using the armed group's Arabic acronym.

The air attacks on a village in Khugyani district, near the border with Pakistan, also destroyed a large number of weapons, explosives, and ammunition, the agency said.

US forces in Afghanistan said they conducted an air raid in the location described by Afghan officials, which "targeted a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation".

Erhabi was the fourth ISIL leader killed in Afghanistan since the group emerged there in early 2015. Erhabi succeeded Abu Sayed who was killed in a US drone attack in early July.

ISIL has a relatively small but potent presence in Afghanistan, mainly in Nangarhar - the birthplace of the group's Afghan branch - but more recently in the northern province of Jowzjan where it is fighting for control of smuggling routes into neighbouring Turkmenistan.

Hours before Saturday's air raids, the group claimed a deadly suicide attack that appeared to target a sit-in protest outside an election commission office in the city of Jalalabad. Two people were killed.

The bombings followed a number of attacks claimed by ISIL in recent weeks, including assaults on several government installations in Kabul and a bombing at a school in a Shia area of the capital that killed at least 37 people.

The group, however, has suffered repeated setbacks amid a bloody turf war with the much larger Taliban. Estimates of ISIL's numbers in the country run as high as 2,000.

More than 150 ISIL fighters surrendered to Afghan forces in Jowzjan on August 1, a move troops and the Taliban hailed as the end of the group's foothold in the north of the country.

ISIL in Afghanistan is also known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region that includes Afghanistan. </s> Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the blasts that took place, north of Tikrit, which left many people killed and injured.

The media-arm of IS, Amaq news agency, said 17 personnel of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) were killed, while 30 others were wounded in an ambush at Asdeira village in Shirqat town.

On Thursday, Ali Dawdah, mayor of Shirqat, said in a statement, “ten people were killed, while 14 others were wounded as explosives went off while digging tombs, on Wednesday night. The bombs were planted in a grave in Asdeira village in western Shirqat, north of Salahuddin.”

Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks across Iraq against troops. Security reports indicate that the militant group still poses threat against stability in the country.

A total of 104 Iraqi civilians and policemen were killed, while 177 others were injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in March, according to casualty figures by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Thousands of IS militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.

In December, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced full liberation of Iraqi lands, declaring end of war against IS members. </s> Earlier this month ISIL was blamed for killing six Afghan Red Cross employees in Jowzjan province [File: AFP/Getty Images] Ten police officers and the wife of a commander have been killed in an ambush outside a mosque by Taliban fighters in northern Afghanistan. Mohammad Reza Ghafori, spokesman for the Jowzjan provincial governor, said on Saturday the police officers were attacked on Friday as they were coming out of the mosque.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Al Jazeera. </s> At least four policemen and one suspect have been killed in clashes on the outskirts of Karak city in southern Jordan after security officers stormed an apartment, according to security sources.

Two more suspects were arrested after Tuesday's gun battle in Wesya village, which came shortly after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks at a popular tourist destination in Karak.

The sources told Al Jazeera that the suspects were on a list of wanted men and did have any apparent links to the assailants involved in the Karak citadel assault.

A video uploaded on social media purported to show Tuesday's exchange of fire in Wesya.

The shooting erupted just hours after ISIL, also known as ISIS, said "four soldiers of the caliphate" armed with machineguns and hand grenades carried out Sunday's attack at the Crusader-era castle, which left 10 people dead.

"We promise the Crusader coalition countries something worse and more severe, Allah permitting ...," it said, referring to the anti-ISIL coalition member states.

ISIL confirmed that the attackers were killed by police during the course of a siege that lasted several hours.

Jordanian officials have refused to identify the attackers, calling them "terrorist outlaws".

Security sources said the attackers were all Jordanian nationals.

Seven security officers, two local bystanders and the Canadian tourist were killed in the attacks which also left 34 people wounded.

Salamah Hammad, the country's interior minister, said on Monday at least five suicide belts were found, together with an ammunition cache, automatic weapons and explosives in a hideout in a house in the desert town of Qatranah, 30km northeast of Karak.

The attackers had sought refuge in the castle after opening fire on police patrols and a police station, Hammad said.

Jordan plays a key role in the US-led military campaign against ISIL, which seized large areas in neighbouring Iraq and Syria in 2014 and proclaimed a "caliphate" there.

Many Jordanians oppose their country's involvement, saying it has led to the killing of fellow Muslims and raised security threats inside Jordan. </s> At least 32 people were killed on Tuesday in an Islamic State group attack near a refugee camp on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq, a monitor said.

"At least five suicide attackers blew themselves up outside and inside a camp for Iraqi refugees and displaced Syrians in Hasakeh province," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Heavy clashes then erupted between the IS fighters and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, some of whose combatants were among the dead, Abdel Rahman told AFP.

The camp lies in the Rajm al-Salibeh area just inside Syrian territory, and at least 21 of the dead were displaced Syrians or Iraqi refugees, the Observatory said.

"At least 30 people were wounded, and the death toll may rise because some people are in critical condition and others are still unaccounted for," the Britain-based monitor said.

The US-backed SDF has captured swathes of northern Syria from IS, and in recent days overran most of the strategic Euphrates Valley town of Tabqa.

The battle for Tabqa is an important part of a broader offensive for IS's main Syrian stronghold, Raqa, downstream. </s> The loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group suffered heavy casualties during the ongoing operations in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

The provincial police commandment said the militants suffered casualties during the operations in Pacher Agam district as the Afghan forces raided the hideouts of the terror group in Kargar Khel, Azar Khel, and Musa Khel areas.

The provincial security officials further added that the dead bodies of at least 8 of the militants were left in the area besides several weapons were confiscated by the Afghan forces.

This comes as the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said Tuesday at least 25 loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed during the joint military operations of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said “Afghan National Defense and Security Forces launched a joint clearance operation in the Pachiragam district of eastern Nangarhar province.”

The statement further added “As a result of this joint operation, 21 Daesh terrorists were killed and 11 other Daesh terrorists were wounded.”

The clearance operation still continues in insecure villages of Pachiragam district, MoI said, adding that four Daesh terrorists were killed during an air raid in the Ghazi Khil village, Pachiragam district of eastern Nangarhar province.

The loyalists of the terror group have not commented regarding the report so far.

Follow Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook. Stay updated via RSS </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption People injured in the attack were taken to hospitals in the provincial capital of Hassakeh

More than 30 civilians and Kurdish-led fighters have been killed in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants near Syria's north-eastern border with Iraq.

They targeted a makeshift camp for displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees at Rajm al-Salibi, near the town of Shaddadi in Hassakeh province.

The militants also clashed with members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stationed at a nearby checkpoint.

IS said the attack was one of several targeting "apostates" around Shaddadi.

The jihadist group is coming under mounting pressure in northern Syria from the SDF's Kurdish and Arab fighters, who are supported by the US, and from pro-government forces in neighbouring Iraq.

The SDF has driven IS militants out of much of Hassakeh and is close to taking control of the strategically important Euphrates River Valley town of Tabqa.

It will soon launch an offensive to retake the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the "caliphate" proclaimed by IS after the fall of the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reports that at least five IS suicide bombers blew themselves up outside and inside the camp at Rajm al-Salibi, east of Shaddadi, at dawn on Tuesday.

At least 38 people were killed by the bombings and subsequent clashes, among them 23 civilians, and 30 other people were wounded, it adds.

According to Syria's official Sana news agency, more than 30 civilians were killed and 34 wounded. It did not say whether there had been any suicide bombings.

The Kurdish Red Crescent put the civilian death toll at 22.

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SDF fighters took wounded civilians to hospitals in the city of Hassakeh. Several were admitted to intensive care due to the severity of their injuries, according to medical sources cited by Sana.

An IS statement said six groups of militants had attacked SDF positions in Shaddadi and its surrounding area on Tuesday, including a "barracks" near Rajm al-Salibi, killing and wounding dozens of people.

An Iraqi army source told the BBC the militants had also abducted dozens of civilians during the attack on the camp.

It was not possible to verify the report. However, a similar allegation was made by the head of the Iraqi parliament's human rights committee in an interview with Beirut-based al-Mayadeen TV and Sana cited some of those injured as saying they had lost contact with dozens of their relatives.

Image copyright AFP Image caption There are several camps for refugees and displaced people along Syria's border with Iraq

About 300 families were waiting at Rajm al-Salibi - where conditions are harsh and there is little shelter - to be screened and allowed to enter SDF territory.

They included Syrians from Raqqa and Deir al-Zour provinces, as well as some of the thousands of Iraqis who have fled to Syria from Mosul since October.

As a result of the attack, approximately 400 people are being relocated from Rajm al-Salibi to another camp at al-Hol. </s> Syria war: Many dead in IS attack on displaced people’s camp

More than 30 civilians and Kurdish-led fighters have been killed in an attack by Islamic State militants near Syria’s north-eastern border with Iraq.

They targeted a makeshift camp for displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees at Rajm al-Salibi, near the town of Shaddadi in Hassakeh province.

The militants also also clashed with members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stationed at a nearby checkpoint.

The US-backed alliance is spearheading the battle against IS in eastern Syria.

Its Kurdish and Arab fighters are close to taking control of the strategically important Euphrates River Valley town of Tabqa and will soon launch an offensive to retake the de facto IS capital of Raqqa.

At least five IS suicide bombers blew themselves up outside and inside the camp at Rajm al-Salibi, south-east of the town of Shaddadi, at dawn on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory, a UK-based monitoring group, reports.

At least 32 people were killed by the bombings and subsequent clashes, among them 21 civilians, and 30 other people were wounded, it adds.

According to Syria’s official Sana news agency, more than 30 civilians were killed and 34 wounded. It did not say whether there had been any suicide bombings.

The Kurdish Red Crescent put the civilian death toll at 22.

SDF fighters took wounded civilians to hospitals in the city of Hassakeh. Several were admitted to intensive care due to the severity of their injuries, according to medical sources cited by Sana.

The militants also abducted dozens of civilians during the attack, an Iraqi army source told the BBC.

It was not possible to verify the report. However, a similar allegation was made by the head of the Iraqi parliament’s human rights committee in an interview with Beirut-based al-Mayadeen TV and Sana cited some of those injured as saying they had lost contact with dozens of their relatives.

They included Syrians from Raqqa and Deir al-Zour provinces, as well as Iraqis who had fled the second city of Mosul, Sana reports. </s> At least six people, including a police officer, were killed after ISIS gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, government officials say.

The attackers, carrying AK-47s, entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday, in the latest assault on media workers in the country.

 The raid on the RTA state broadcaster was carried out by four attackers, one of whom had detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to the compound, said provincial governor Gulab Mangal.

 As the attack unfolded, heavy gunfire was heard from around the RTA building, which is close to the governor’s compound.

 The three others were killed by security forces in the gun battle, Mangal said.

 The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the attack that comes over a week after the leader of ISIL in Afghanistan was killed in a US drone strike.

 “Three attackers are dead and so are three other people,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said quoting police officials.

 At least 16 people, including journalists, were wounded in the attack which took place in central Jalalabad, close to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square, Hendren said.

 Among the dead were four RTA employees, including a driver, a guard, and two technical personnel, as well as two policemen, according to Mangal.

 ISIS has established a stronghold in Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is capital, where it fights both the Taliban and Afghan government forces.
At least 12 tribal fighters were killed by ISIL insurgents. The attack occurred in Shirqat.