The ramping up of brutal violence in the war-struck country comes amid intense fighting between the Afghan army, ISIS – also known as Daesh – and the Taliban over recent days.

British troops are also heavily involved with the SAS killing at least 20 Taliban in assaults on its key areas over Christmas.

ISIS has made inroads in several districts in the province of Nangahar over recent weeks but were given a strong message of defiance by local militia.

The terror group decapitated four of the locals but they retaliated by executing the same number of jihadis before displaying their heads on piles of rocks by the roadside.

Haji Zahir, deputy speaker of parliament, who is leader of the militia, said of the horror incident: “Do you think if they behead you, you cook them sweets?”

Islamic State is relatively a new force in Afghanistan and there is dispute about how strong it is, how many members it commands and how closely they are linked operationally to the movement’s main arm in Iraq and Syria.

Last week, the commander of international forces in the country, US General John Campbell, said there were between 1,000 to 3,000 members of ISIS in Afghanistan and he said its influence would spread if left unchecked.

The Taliban, however, which recently declared war on ISIS, is still the lead terror force in the central Asian country and is the main focus for the Afghan army and its allies.

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