KABUL, Oct 28 — Afghanistan welcomed the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a major blow to terrorism that is expected to weaken the South Asian branch of the Middle Eastern militant group.

The emergence of an Afghan affiliate of Islamic State emerged in recent years created another enemy for the country’s US-backed government, which has been fighting against the much larger Taliban insurgency since 2001.

“The Afghan government strongly welcomes the US forces’ operation that led to the death of ... Baghdadi,” a spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a post on Twitter.

“The death ... is the biggest blow to this group and to terrorism,” the spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said.

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Baghdadi, who had led the jihadist group since 2010, killed himself during a raid by US special forces on his hideout in northwest Syria early yesterday. His death was announced by US President Donald Trump.

The leadership of Islamic State in Khorasan (ISIS-K), named after an old name for the region that covered much of modern-day Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, had pledged allegiance to Baghdadi but it was unclear what direct operational links the two groups had.

The Afghan affiliate first appeared in 2014, in the eastern province of Nangarhar, where it retains a stronghold.

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It announced its formation in January 2015 and has since made inroads into other areas, particularly the north, sometimes bringing it into conflict with the rival Afghan Taliban.

It has carried out bloody attacks on civilian targets in Kabul and other cities, but many Afghan officials in the capital doubt some of its claims, and the group remains little understood.

Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, said the militant faction had grown weaker recently, and the death of Baghdadi would be a hard blow for it.

“No doubt, Baghdadi’s death will have a deep impact on Daesh’s activities in Afghanistan,” said Khogyani, referring to IS.

The US military estimates the strength of ISIS-K at 2,000 fighters. Some Afghan officials put the number higher. But Khogyani said numerous members had been killed in clashes or had surrendered over recent months.

“Now we expect an increase in surrenders,” he said.

‘To the death’

A spokesman for the Taliban dismissed any suggestion the purported Afghan IS branch had any link with IS in the Middle East. Instead, the group was cooked up by the US-backed Afghan government and US-led Nato forces, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

“The Taliban will fight them to the death,” he said.

Afghans have seen for themselves what impact, or lack of one, the death of a militant commander can have on a group.

The Taliban officially confirmed in July 2015 that their supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been dead for more than two years.

While that news brought a brief spell of factional rivalry, the Taliban have since grown stronger and now control more territory than at any time since their ouster from power in 2001. — Reuters