Afghan forces kill mastermind of Nangarhar prison attack

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Tuesday confirmed Special Forces had killed the mastermind of this month’s Nangarhar prison attack.

The NDS said in a statement on Tuesday it had killed high ranking Daesh member, Abdullah Orakzai, the chief justice of ISIS-K/Daesh in Afghanistan.

According to the NDS, Abdullah Orakzai had masterminded the recent prison attack which left at least 30 people dead and more than 50 wounded.

The Afghan spy agency, however, did not provide further details.

Abdullah Orakzai had also been the deputy intelligence leader of Daesh.

Assadullah Orakzai, who was killed by the Afghan Special Forces near Jalalabad, in Nangarhar province, in late July, had been the head of intelligence for the terrorist organization.

However, Abdullah Orakzai was also suspected of being involved in several deadly attacks against both military and civilian targets in the country, the NDS added.

“Abdullah Orakzai, was military in charge for Daesh in Naziyan and Achin districts of Nangarhar province, and he had issued a fatwa allowing its insurgents to behead civilians and forcibly marry their girls,” the NDS said in a statement.

This latest development comes after Afghan Special Forces arrested another coordinator of the prison attack during a raid in Kunar province on August 5.

The key commander was identified as Mohammad Saeed son of Mohammad Afzal, who was involved in moving foreign ISIS insurgents along with their families around the country.

“He (Mohammad Saeed) was one of the masterminds of the recent attack in Nangarhar,” the NDS said.

The prison attack started when an Indian doctor, Ijas Kallukettiya Purayil, detonated an explosive-laden vehicle at the entrance gate of the jail.

Soon after 10 militants stormed the facility and it took security forces nearly 18 hours to bring the situation under control.

Meanwhile, an Afghan MP claimed that around 800 ISIS-K (Daesh) and Taliban prisoners had escaped during the attack. Afghan officials later confirmed that hundreds of Daesh and Taliban prisoners were missing.

Daesh has not yet commented in this regard.