Kabul: The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) said its fighters had captured Osama bin Laden's infamous Tora Bora mountain hideout in eastern Afghanistan, but the Taliban on Thursday dismissed the claim, saying they were still in control of the cave complex that once housed the former al Qaeda leader. Officials and villagers fleeing the area told the New York Times that Isis militants captured the cave complex, in the Nangarhar Province, on Wednesday (14 June) after week-long fighting in the region. Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Taliban fighters pushed back the Islamic State group from areas of Tora Bora that IS had earlier captured. He added that the Tora Bora mountain range, with the huge caves that once hid Bin Laden, was strategically a very important location for Isis, giving it a remote and difficult-to-access location from where to launch attacks on Afghan government forces as well as the Taliban. Bin Laden was killed in a US navy Seals raid in May 2011 in the army garrison town of Abbotabad in neighboring Pakistan, a raid that many Pakistanis have felt violated their country’s sovereignty.
After a week-long assault, ISIL-KP captures the Tora Bora cave complex from the Taliban, allegedly in reaction to the 2017 Nangarhar airstrike. The Taliban say the fighting is still underway.