Several militants have been killed in a series of violent clashes between Taliban and the ISIL terrorist group in troubled eastern Afghanistan, officials say.   

Local Afghan officials said on Monday that the deadly clashes erupted in Shirzad district of eastern Nangarhar province on late Sunday and continued until midnight.  

Malim Mashoq, the governor of Shirzad district confirmed that at least seven Taliban, including a senior regional militant commander, were killed during the fierce infighting.  

Mashoq noted that the ISIL terrorist group also suffered casualties, but he did not give any specific numbers.  

The fresh clashes started after ISIL sought to recruit young men in some areas traditionally seen as Taliban strongholds.    

Several deadly clashes between rival militant groups have been reported across Afghanistan over the past weeks.   

More than two dozen militants were killed in violent clashes between the Taliban and the ISIL terrorist group in Khaki Safed district of Western Farah Province in late May.  At least 20 militants were also killed in fierce fighting between the groups in Anar Dara district of the same troubled province in early June. 

The fresh wave of violence comes as the Takfiri ISIL terror group has now started actively recruiting militants in some regions of the war-ravaged country. Sources say the ISIL is also making use of a sophisticated social media campaign in order to woo local Taliban militants.  

Senior Afghan officials have recently warned that the ISIL group is posing serious threats to the county's security. President Ashraf Ghani has said that ISIL is worse than al-Qaeda for Afghanistan.  

Afghanistan has been experiencing a massive influx of foreign militants from a host of countries over the past years. The Asian country is facing insecurity more than 13 years after the United States and its allies invaded the country in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.

JR/NN/HMV