KABUL, Afghanistan — A former Taliban commander who had recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group was killed in a military operation in Helmand Province on Monday, according to Afghan officials and a tribal elder in the area.
Precise details were unavailable. In announcing the death of the commander, Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, the Afghan spy agency said that it had been tracking him for a month, and that he and five of his men had been killed in a “successful military operation” in the Kajaki district of Helmand.
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A tribal elder, also from the Kajaki district, said that Mullah Khadim and four others had been killed while returning from a livestock market, where they had gone “to preach and encourage people to join Islamic State” before an audience of hundreds.
Jawad Sukhanyar, Fazal Muzhary, and Ahmad Shakib contributed reporting from Kabu
