World Bulletin / News Desk

 A U.S. drone strike killed at least 12 suspected Taliban militants including a senior leader on Sunday. 

The strike in eastern Nangarhar province followed a series of other attacks in the province last week, mainly targeting militant leaders claiming loyalty to the Syria-based ISIL group. 

Provincial police spokesman Colonel Hazrat Hussein Mashriqiwal told Anadolu Agency on Monday that the strike had targeted a Taliban gathering and the "shadow governor" for the Kot district. 

“Mullah Sarhadi and 11 of his fighters were killed in two separate drone strikes in Nazian district on Sunday,” Mashriqiwal said.

The Taliban claim to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan despite their regime being toppled in 2001 and run a parallel system that includes governors and judges appointed to districts across the country. 

In the past week over 100 so-called ISIL fighters, including their top two commanders and a former leader of the Pakistani Taliban, have been killed in Nangarhar, Afghan security forces have claimed.