Five killed in fresh US drone strike in eastern Afghanistan

At least five people have lost their lives when US military forces launched a fresh drone strike in Afghanistan’s troubled eastern province of Nangarhar.

Attaullah Khogyani, the spokesman for the provincial governor, said on Tuesday that the aerial assault struck Achin district of the province, which is located 120 kilometers (74 miles) east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing five members of the Taliban militant group.

He added that a Taliban militant commander, identified as Qari Hidayatullah, was killed in the airstrike.

The attack came only two days after US forces carried out a drone strike in Dih Bala district of the same Afghan province, killing 25 members of the Daesh Takfiri militant group.

On January 22, ten people were also killed in a US drone attack in Nangarhar Province, which has seen a rise in the presence of Daesh militants over the past months.

A US drone strike in the Achin district of the province had claimed the lives of three people three days earlier. Local officials said a Daesh militant commander, identified as Qari Sajjad, and two of his comrades were killed in the airstrike.

The CIA spy agency regularly uses drones for airstrikes and spying missions in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border.

Washington has also been conducting targeted killings through remotely-controlled armed drones in Somalia and Yemen.

The United States says the airstrikes only target members of al-Qaeda and other militants, but according to local officials and witnesses, civilians have been the main victims of the attacks in most cases.

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