predator drone
Two drone strikes in eastern Afghanistan killed 20 Islamic State affiliated militants, reports said. In this photo, a MQ-1B Predator Unmanned Aerial System vehicle that is part of Task Force Odin, stands inside a hangar at Bagram Air Field in the Parwan province of Afghanistan on Jan 3, 2015. Reuters/Lucas Jackson

Afghan officials said that at least 20 militants affiliated with the Islamic State group were killed in two separate drone strikes in the country's eastern province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan.

Nangarhar government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said the strikes took place late Wednesday in the Haska Mina district of Nangarhar, the Associated Press reported. Abdulzai added that Haska Mina borders the Afghan province of Pachi Agam, south of Jalalabad, where ISIS militants are reportedly active. He added that no civilians were killed or wounded in the strikes.

A statement from the U.S. military in Afghanistan also reportedly confirmed that a “kinetic strike” in Nangarhar had struck "individuals threatening the force."

The news comes shortly after another drone strike in early July killed a senior ISIS commander in Nangarhar.

The United States has been named the top user of “targeted killings” through drone strikes, according to the United Nations and other human rights organizations. U.S. officials maintain that their strikes only target known militants, but local officials say their strikes often kill civilians as well.

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