'IS' affiliate targets Afghan police

The coordinated attacks on eight to 10 police posts began early on Sunday, said governor of Achin district, Haji Ghalib.

Afghan security forces responded with a wave of airstrikes that killed 85 militants, according to a statement from the Afghan intelligence agency.

"All the terrorists killed were Pakistani citizens," the National Directorate of Security statement said, adding that the militants had been under the command of Hafiz Saeed, who was also killed.

Saeed, the leader of the emergent offshoot of "Islamic State" (IS) in Afghanistan and Pakistan, was reported to have been killed several weeks earlier in a US drone strike.

The attack is the first so far by IS loyalists against security forces. The group has hitherto clashed only with the Taliban insurgents. While both groups are fighting for Islamic Rule, they are bitterly divided over strategy and leadership.

A statement purportedly issued by an IS affiliate claimed a "big attack" in Nangarhar.

The group, referring to itself as the Khorasan Province of the Islamic State, posted a statement on Twitter. It said militants seized two army barracks in Achin, set fire to an army vehicle, seized weapons and killed nine "apostates."

Second to Taliban

NATO says IS is an "operationally emergent" group in Afghanistan, but that the Taliban still pose a "greater threat" to the Afghan government and foreign forces. IS is thought to be actively recruiting new members from other Islamist groups, including the Taliban.

At least nine people were killed and 33 wounded in a bomb attack on Sunday at a volleyball match in eastern Afghanistan.

The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack in Paktika, a volatile frontier region considered a stronghold of the Haqqani militant network.

Like many other sports, volleyball was banned by the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

rc/bw (AFP, AP)