DUSHANBE July 27, 2016, Asia-Plus – BBC reported on July 26 that Afghan security forces say that a key commander with the Islamic State (IS) militant group has been killed in a military operation in Nangarhar.

Saad Emarati was reportedly one of the founders of the IS group''s Afghanistan-Pakistan branch, and led several attacks against the Taliban and the government.

Afghan officials say he was one of about 120 suspected militants killed in an operation in Kot district.

It comes days after a bomb attack in Kabul claimed by IS killed 80 people, according to BBC.

Emarati was formerly a Taliban commander, but switched allegiance to IS following the death of Mullah Omar, the Taliban founder.

Analysts say he was one of the most important leaders of IS in the region, and that his death, if confirmed, would be a serious setback to the group''s ability to operate in eastern Afghanistan.

Emarati was one of the first militant commanders in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region who pledged allegiance to IS''s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

He was a former Afghan Taliban commander in central Logar province who was sidelined and disarmed by the Taliban leadership for "unauthorized activities" in 2013.

After that, he spent time with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), and, on 12 January 2015, appeared in a video with two other Afghan Taliban commanders, and nine ex-TTP commanders, pledging allegiance to IS.

Two weeks later, IS announced the establishment of its branch in “Khorasan” - an old name for Afghanistan and parts of neighboring Pakistan, Iran and Central Asia - and Emarati became one of its most important commanders.