Afghan Troops Kill Six ISIS Militants; Taliban Car Bomb Near Parliament Kills Two

Afghan parliament — Several explosions were reported near the Afghan Parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday. In this photo, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (left) speaks during a ceremony to inaugurate a new session of the Parliament in Kabul, March 7, 2015. Reuters/Rahmat Gul/Pool

Six Islamic State group militants were killed after attacking a security checkpoint in Afghanistan. The deaths occurred Monday when an attack near the Afghan Parliament by Taliban militants killed a child and a woman.

The Afghan military released a statement confirming the death of six militants from the Islamic State group, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL. The statement said that Afghan troops had killed one of the senior commanders of the terrorist organization in the Kajaki District of Helmand province.

Iran's Press TV reported that the Afghan forces had seized ammunition and an arms cache that belonged to the slain militants. However, it has not been made clear if the government forces suffered any casualties during the clash.

Meanwhile, police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi said 28 people had been injured in the Taliban attack near the Parliament building in Kabul. Six Taliban terrorists tried entering the building after a car bomb had exploded near the outer wall of the Parliament compound, CNN reported.

ISIS terrorists have been involved in a number of clashes with their Taliban counterparts in Afghanistan over the last few weeks. According to some media reports, ISIS has actively started recruiting militants in some areas in the country.

John Hannah from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies believes that the Taliban has been trying to prove a point to ISIS forces. “They think that they might be able to recreate what ISIS has done in Iraq,” Hannah said, as Fox News reported. “They are looking at a U.S. drawdown significantly.”

According to Hannah, the Taliban attack near the Afghan Parliament is “very much the Taliban putting down their marker and they are on the offensive elsewhere in Afghanistan, picking up territory -- the Taliban is back.” Experts believe that ISIS and the Taliban are battling against each other in Afghanistan to establish dominance in the country.

According to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, ISIS is a serious threat to Afghanistan’s national security. The Pentagon submitted a report to the U.S. Congress that claimed the militant forces were in its “initial exploratory phase” in the country. The report, however, predicted that ISIS would compete with the Taliban and other terrorist groups in the country to become more relevant.