Suspected Islamic State (IS) militants stand handcuffed in Shiberghan, capital of Jawzjan province, Afghanistan, March 11, 2018. Four militants from the IS extremist group were arrested in Afghanistan's northern province of Jawzjan on Sunday, an army source said Monday. (Xinhua/Mohammad Jan Aria)
SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Four militants from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group were arrested in Afghanistan's northern province of Jawzjan on Sunday, an army source said Monday.
"The four were serving as weapons and cash facilitators for IS militants in Darzab district of Jawzjan. They were arrested on the outskirts of provincial capital Shiberghan city on Sunday afternoon," Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Samad told Xinhua.
The arrested were handed over to concerned authorities for further questioning, he said.
"The four insurgents tried to travel to eastern Nangarhar province to collect and transport cash and weapons to the group in Jawzjan, 390 km north of Kabul," the source added.
Nangarhar province with Jalalabad as its capital, 120 km east of Kabul, has been regarded as IS militants' hotbed.
Up to 2,302 militants loyal to IS have been killed and more than 499 others sustained injuries over the past one year in four Afghan provinces, including Jawzjan and Nangarhar, according to figures of the Afghan Defense Ministry.
The IS group, which emerged in Nangarhar in early 2015, has yet to make comments on the report.