counter-terrorism mission. On 23 July 2016, following the Kabul bombing, Afghan forces and U.S. special forces backed by U.S. airstrikes began an operation to retake parts on Nangarhar province from ISIL-KP militants. Over 24 and 25 July whilst clearing areas of southern Nangarhar with Afghan special operations troops, 5 U.S. special forces troops were wounded by small arms fire or shrapnel, making it the first reported instance of U.S. troops being wounded in fighting ISIL in Afghanistan. On 26 July, one of the most important leaders of ISIL in the region and one of the founders of the ISIL-KP, Saad Emarati, was killed along with 120 other suspected militants in Kot District, Afghan troops pushed into Kot District, meeting little resistance due to heavy air and artillery bombardment that forced ISIL fighters to flee into nearby mountain areas, Afghan forces found an already destroyed training camp. Overall, the operation reclaimed large and significant parts of eastern Afghanistan, forcing ISIL militants back into the mountains of southern Nangarhar with hundreds of IS militants killed; the estimated size of the ISIL-KP in January 2016 was around 3,000, but by July 2016 the number has been reduced to closely 1,000 to 1,500, with 70% of its fighters come from the TTP. In the operation, Afghan forces, backed by the US, killed an estimated 300 ISIS fighters. Between January and early August 2016, U.S. aircraft conducted nearly 140 airstrikes against ISIL targets in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. military. On 4 October 2016, a US soldier from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 10th SFG was killed by a roadside bomb blast in Achin, Nangarhar province, he was on a patrol with Afghan forces during an operation against ISIL-KP militants. This marked the first time a U.S. serviceman was killed in combat against IS militants in the country. On 24 December 2016, Military.com reported that Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said that ISIL-KP's presence in the country has been pushed back from nearly a dozen districts to just two or three, the number of its members in Afghanistan had been reduced to about 1,000 from an estimated strength of between 1,500 and 3,000 members the previous year. Overall, U.S. troops in Afghanistan conducted more than 350 operations against the IS and al-Qaeda this year. In early December, General John Nicholson, the international coalition's top military commander in Afghanistan, said U.S.-led counter-terrorism operations and Afghan government forces had