The Islamic State beheaded 15 of its own fighters after a bout of infighting in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar.

Nangarhar, on the porous border with Pakistan, has become a stronghold for Islamic State, generally known as Daesh in Afghanistan and the killings occurred in the Surkh Ab bazaar of Achin district.

IS has grown to become one of the country's most dangerous militant groups since it appeared around the start of 2015.

Islamic State fighters beheaded 15 of its own fighters in Afghanistan. In 2016 is also beheaded 15 men, described as Syrian military personnel

Areas in Afghanistan under the control and influence of Taliban and Islamic State militants

Further details were not available and there was no confirmation from Islamic State, whose local branch is known as Islamic State in Khorasan, an old name for the area that includes modern Afghanistan.

The Taliban and Islamic State have frequently fought each other in Nangarhar and both have been targeted by sustained U.S. air strikes.

But the exact nature of the relationship between the two groups is little understood. There have been isolated incidents in Afghanistan in which the fighters of both appear to have cooperated.

In 'unprecedented' hiatus, IS media offline for a day The Islamic State group's online propaganda channels went mysteriously quiet for more than a day, in what analysts said was an 'unprecedented' silence. IS, which uses messaging application Telegram to broadcast daily updates on military operations and claims of attacks. IS's Telegram channels usually post more than a dozen messages each day, ranging from multilingual radio broadcasts on battlefield achievements to pictures of civilian life in the group's self-styled 'caliphate.' But Wednesday the group posted in a brief 30-minute window, skipping its usual 'daily broadcast' entirely. It then went dark until Thursday, breaking its silence with a four-minute radio segment on operations in eastern Syria and Iraq, only in Arabic. Charlie Winter, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, called the silence 'unprecedented.' He said: 'The deceleration in the production of IS media has been particularly profound over the last couple of weeks. But there were no 24-hour periods when it was completely silent.' Advertisement

A suicide bomber blew himself in the city of Jalabad, killing eight people and wounding 17

Afghan intelligence documents that emerged this year showed security officials believe Islamic State is present in nine provinces, from Nangarhar and Kunar in the east to Jawzjan, Faryab and Badakhshan in the north and Ghor in the central west.

Meanwhile in a separate suicide attack on Thursday tore into a crowd in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, killing at least eight.

The suicide bomber blew himself up at a meeting of supporters of a police commander who was sacked for illegal land grabbing.

There was no claim of responsibility and no immediate indication of who was behind the attack on the crowd, which had gathered to demand the reinstatement of the commander, who survived the attack.

A spokesman for the Jalalabad hospital confirmed eight people had been killed and 15 wounded.