Kabul, Mar 28 (IANS): As many as 23 fighters from the Taliban and the Islamic State (IS) were killed and over a dozen injured in Chapa Dara district of Afghanistan in the past couple of days, the Army said on Thursday.

According to a statement, the IS attacked the Taliban couple of days ago triggering heavy fighting in the eastern province of Kunar leading to the death of 18 IS fighters and five Taliban insurgents. Eighteen people, including 15 IS militants, sustained injuries.

No civilian and security personnel were hurt in the fighting, it said.

While neither Taliban nor IS has made any comment, media reports suggest the clashes forced hundreds of families to flee their houses for safer places.

Militants affiliated with the IS, according to locals, have been operating in the Kunar and the neighbouring Nangarhar provinces over the past couple of years.

The government forces after a series of bloody operations over the past couple of years were able to shrink the influence of IS in Nangarhar province.