5,000 IS militants present in northern Afghanistan: Russia

There are 5,000 Islamic State militants in northern Afghanistan near the border with former Soviet states, a top Russian security official has said.

“The deployment of terrorist groups to Afghanistan’s northern provinces bordering with the Commonwealth’s states is especially alarming,” said Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Russian Federal Security Service, as quoted by TASS news agency.

“The ISIS (Islamic State, IS, a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) branch Wilayah Khorasan already deployed about 5,000 militants in these areas. They are mostly CIS citizens who fought in Syria,” he said at a meeting with security chiefs of former Soviet states.

He warned that the build-up of terrorist forces is escalating tensions in the Central Asian region.

SOURCE: Tass