Afghanistan

The leader of the so-called Islamic State militant group in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been killed in a US drone strike, according to an Afghan official.

Hafiz Saeed Khan, along with a number of senior commanders and fighters, was said to have been hit in an eastern Afghan province.

A former member of the Pakistani branch of the Taliban who later swore allegiance to IS, Khan had also been reported killed last year, but the death was never confirmed.

Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, told reporters the fatal strike had taken place on July 26.

Pentagon spokesperson Gordon Trowbridge confirmed Khan's death.

The death is a blow to the efforts of so-called Islamic State to expand from its heartlands in Syria and Iraq, and into Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack on a military and logistics services compound in Kabul early Monday morning, after an explosion was heard from all over the capital.

Four heavily armed attackers were fighting on the side of the Northgate Hotel, a security official said.

The Hotel is a secure residential compound for foreign military and civilian organisations.

Afghan authorities have not given an indication of any casualties as yet.

The attack comes a week after so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at a protest in the city, which killed at least 80 people.

The Taliban, which says it wants to avoid civilian casualties, said the compound was not near homes and that ordinary civilians were not harmed.

Five US service personnel were injured while partnering with Afghan special forces in clearing areas controlled by Islamic State in Afghanistan, the U.S. military commander in that country has revealed.

Army General John Nicholson said two of the service members have been returned to duty, while three others were evacuated from Nangarhar province, but are "in good spirits."

The number of people killed in a suicide attack on a peaceful demonstration in Kabul has climbed to 80 according to Afghanistan's interior ministry.

The ministry said in a statement that at least 231 people were also wounded.

A suicide bomber struck a protest march in Kabul by members of Afghanistan's ethnic Hazara community.

President Ashraf Ghani, who has condemned the blast, declared Sunday a day of national mourning.

At least 61 people have died and 207 are wounded in a suspected suicide attack in the city of Kabul in Afghanistan.

Islamic State have claimed responsibility for the attack targeting members of the country's Hazara Shi'ite Muslim minority at a large demonstration, the group's Amaq news agency reported.

"Two fighters from Islamic State detonated explosive belts at a gathering of Shi'ites in... the city of Kabul in Afghanistan," Amaq said in a statement.

At least ten are dead after an explosion at a demonstration in Kabul apparently caused by a suicide bomber, interior ministry officials said.

Dozens are reported to be injured and there are fears the death toll may rise after the attacker struck a packed protest where people were demanding a change of the route of a power transmission line.