Waheedullah Kalimzai, the governor of the eastern Kunar province, said the strike yesterday killed Hazrat Gul and three other fighters in a mountainous area controlled by the militants. He said authorities learned of the deaths from intelligence reports.
An Islamic State affiliate drawn largely from disgruntled former Taliban fighters operates in eastern Afghanistan, where it has clashed with Afghan forces as well as the more established Taliban.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a senior police official was killed by a bomb planted in his car in Kabul, according to Basir Mujahid, a police spokesman.