London: The Sunni radical group Islamic State (IS) is recruiting and operating in some provinces of Afghanistan, a media report said Tuesday citing officials.
A man identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf has been claiming to represent IS in the southern Helmand province, setting up a network of followers who are inviting people to join them, British daily The Guardian reported citing military officials.
The militant group has been fighting with the local Taliban, whose leaders in the region have warned people to have nothing to do with Rauf, military officials claimed, according to the report.
Amir Mohammad Akundzada, the governor of Nimroz province adjacent to Helmand, said Rauf is a former Taliban commander.
After self-proclaiming a "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq, the IS started to lure people from different parts of the world into travelling to Syria to take part in the building process of their Islamic State, which is largely based on their ultraconservative views of Islam.
Many Europeans and Americans joined this radical group over the past couple of years, prompting the Western powers to form a coalition to battle the group in a bid to kill its ambition in its crib before imploding outward toward Europe and the US.
