KABUL: Taliban militants claim that the US soldiers saved fighters affiliated with the Daesh terrorist group as well as their local leaders by helicopters from a siege they were trapped in the eastern province of Kunar.

In a statement, the insurgents said Friday that they had been launching an “operation” against the Daesh terrorist group for one week in Kunar and had surrounded the group’s important individuals.

“The US troops saved them from the siege by helicopters,” the statement said.

Neither the government nor the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, have commented on the allegation.

A large number of the Daesh fighters were rescued by choppers belong to Afghan air force while fleeing a battlefield with Taliban last year in the northern province of Jawzjan.