Afghan forces capture head of Daesh/ISIS in country

KABUL, Afghanistan

Authorities in Afghanistan said the country arrested the head of the Daesh/ISIS terrorist organization.

According to the country’s secret service on Saturday, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the head of the Daesh terrorist organization has been taken into custody along with 20 other commanders.

The local Etelat Roz daily reported they were arrested in Kandahar province.

The NDS also shared a picture of the suspect, identified as Abdullah Orakzai -- also known as Aslam Farooqi. The Pakistan-born head of the terrorist organization is blamed for killing scores of Afghans in bomb blasts, armed attacks, and suicide assaults.

Dawa Khan Menapal, the deputy spokesman for the president, on Twitter has also confirmed the arrest of Farooqi -- who took charge of Daesh/ISIS in Afghanistan after the killing of Abu ‘Umayr Abdul Haseeb Bajori, another Pakistani militant who led the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant -- in the Khorasan Province of Afghanistan.

The group is yet to confirm or reject the arrest of its leader.

Last month, an Indian-born terrorist linked with Daesh/ISIS killed dozens of Sikhs in the capital Kabul in an assault in their place of worship.