Afghanistan’s intelligence service has confirmed that the US killed the Islamic State’s deputy emir for ‘Khorasan province’ in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan earlier today. He is said to have joined the Islamic State earlier this year. Since his split with the Taliban, Khadim has reportedly clashed with the group in northern Helmand. Abu Muhammad al Adnani, a spokesman for the Islamic State, said that Khadim swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the emir and self-styled caliph of the Islamic State, in a statement issued on Jan. 26. Khadim was appointed to serve as deputy governor of the Islamic State’s Khorasan province, while Hafez Saeed Khan, a Pakistani Taliban commander from Aurakzai, was named the governor, according to Adnani.