A Daesh commander, reportedly for the north of the country, named Qari Hikmatullah, was killed in an Afghan security forces airstrike in Jawzjan province this week, security officials confirmed on Saturday.

Mohammad Hanif Rezaee, a spokesman for Shaheen 209 Military Corps in Balkh province, said Hikmatullah, along with his bodyguard, was killed in an Afghan air forces airstrike in Moghol village of Darzab district on Thursday. 

Rezaee said Mawlavi Habibul Rahman has been appointed as his successor in the north of the country. 

Rezaee said that Daesh militants buried Hikmatullah’s body in Sardara village of Darzab district after the airstrike. He said they are however expected to exhume the body and rebury it in Bibi Mariam village in the district.

The Bibi Mariam village is reportedly controlled by the Daesh militants.