IS gaining foothold in Afghanistan

Militants linked to Islamic State jihadists abducted and killed around 30 civilians, including children, in central Afghanistan, officials said yesterday, raising concerns about the group's expanding presence beyond its eastern stronghold.

The killings occurred late Tuesday north of Firoz Koh, the capital of Ghor province, with the local government calling it a revenge attack after a local IS commander was gunned down.

IS, which controls territory across Syria and Iraq and is making steady inroads in Afghanistan, has so far not officially claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Our security forces with the help of local shepherds conducted an operation and killed a Daesh (IS) commander yesterday," Ghor Governor Nasir Khazeh told AFP.

"Daesh fighters in retaliation abducted around 30 villagers, mostly shepherds. Their dead bodies were found this morning."

Islamic State said on Tuesday that fighters loyal to its movement attacked a police training college in Quetta in southwest Pakistan in a raid that officials said killed 61 people.

Pakistani authorities have blamed another militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), for the late-Monday siege, though the Islamic State claim included photographs of three alleged attackers.

General Sher Afgun, a senior military commander in Baluchistan, told media that calls intercepted between the attackers and their handlers suggested they were from the LeJ, a sectarian Sunni militant group.

"We came to know from the communication intercepts that there were three militants who were getting instructions from Afghanistan," Afgun said, adding a faction of LeJ was behind the attack.

In July, IS claimed responsibility for twin explosions that ripped through crowds of Shia Hazaras in Kabul, killing at least 85 people and wounding more than 400 others.