IS 'actively recruiting in Afghanistan'

(MENAFN- Arab News) KABUL Afghanistan: The commander of international forces in Afghanistan says the Islamic State group is actively recruiting in Afghanistan but is not yet operational there.
General John F. Campbell said on Saturday the group's sophisticated social media campaign is attracting Taleban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are disgruntled with the lack of progress in more than 10 years of fighting to overthrow the Kabul government.
He says many are pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group which controls about a third of Syria and Iraq.
'It is absolutely a concern' Campbell says though his statement contradicts some Afghan officials who have said the group is fighting in a number of regions in Afghanistan.
The IS presence in Afghanistan has grown considerably in the past six months Campbell says.
Meanwhile an official confirmed Saturday that a roadside bomb killed two people including a district administrative chief in southern Afghanistan.
Dost Mohammad Nayab spokesman for the provincial governor of Uruzgan province said that Mohammad Ismail Haqyar chief of Charcheno district was killed along with his bodyguard while they were on their way to their office.
Nayab said that a friend of Haqyar was wounded in the attack.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However Taleban insurgents often use roadside bombs and suicide attacks against Afghan security forces and government officials across the country.
Elsewhere in Uruzgan a senior policeman and a lower-ranking colleague surrendered to Taleban fighters in the Dahrawud district after a long fight trying to defend their checkpoint according to the police chief there Noorzai Popal.
Checkpoints which are ubiquitous in vulnerable areas across the country are regularly attacked by insurgents who see them as easy targets.
Noorzai said the Taleban had been attacking checkpoints in the area for the past four days and in a stretch of 30 hours had killed four policemen and wounded seven others.