Extremists fighting for the Islamic State's fledgling outpost in Afghanistan have brutally beheaded at least 10 Taliban members, as the bloody rivalry between the two Islamic terror groups intensifies.

The attack took place in a remote area in the eastern province of Nangarhar after ISIS jihadis intercepted at least a dozen Taliban fighters who were fleeing a gun battle with government troops.

The rival terror groups declared war on one another in April after the Afghan Taliban branded ISIS' self-declared caliphate illegitimate and refused to declare allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

ISIS responded by launching recruitment drives deep into Taliban territory, allowing them to expand rapidly - even reportedly replacing the Taliban as the dominant controlling force in one district.

Ambush: The attack took place in a remote area in the eastern province of Nangarhar after ISIS jihadis intercepted at least a dozen Taliban fighters (pictured) who were fleeing a gun battle with government troops

Details of the mass beheadings were revealed by India.com, who said it came as Taliban fighters fled a remote outpost following a fierce firefight with Afghan security forces nearby.

The report suggested that as many as 12 Taliban fighters may have been beheaded by ISIS, although the official figure remains at 10.

Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, is a key target for ISIS as it looks to expand the territory under its control on its mission to build a worldwide caliphate.

Over the past year members of the Pakistani Taliban have displayed for more support for ISIS than their Afghan counterparts have done, with a number of prominent Pakistani jihadi groups going as far as declaring allegiance to ISIS leader al-Baghdadi while insisting they remain part of the Taliban.

The divide between the Afghan and Pakistani branches of the Taliban stems from the former's desire to keep all non-Afghan influence out of the country, which the latter's priority is to create a global caliphate, or Islamic state, under which harsh Sharia law would be enforced.

Expanding: ISIS militants have launched recruitment drives deep into Taliban territory, allowing them to rapidly win support. ISIS has even replaced the Taliban as the dominant controlling force in one district

REBEL FIGHTERS PROUDLY PARADE THE SEVERED HEADS OF THEIR DEFEATED ISIS ENEMIES IN SYRIA Rebel groups battling the Islamic State in Syria have proudly paraded the severed heads of their defeated enemies, in the latest sign that all sides in the conflict are resorting to shocking barbarism. A coalition of anti-Assad forces were stationed in the town of Azaz, close to the Turkish border, when ISIS militants prepared to carry out a massive assault. But the rebels were tipped off about the attack in advance and were prepared for the jihadis when they arrived - slaughtering them in the streets of the Azaz before posing with the extremists' severed heads and displaying their mutilated corpses in the centre of the city. Large crowds of cheering locals took to the streets of Azaz in the aftermath of the failed attack, which was actually under the control of ISIS for several months in 2013. The ritual humiliation and public exhibition of the butchered corpses was in fact highly symbolic - with the jihadis' severed heads displayed in the same location that ISIS themselves would show off the bodies of those they brutally executed after Friday prayers. Advertisement

While the group as a whole still hasn't declared allegiance to ISIS, many within the Pakistani Taliban see the gains already made by the terror group in Syria and Iraq as being a strong starting point for this ambition.

With Boko Haram in Nigeria and extremists in Libya having already entered the ISIS fold, large terror groups such as Al Shabaab in East Africa, Al Qaeda in the Middle East and the Taliban in central Asia now face having to decide between joining ISIS or risk becoming the group's enemies.

The news comes as members of the Afghan Taliban kidnapped at least 12 de-miners in separate incidents in the country's eastern Logar province, the provincial police chief said yesterday.

General Abdul Hakim Isahqzai said Taliban fighters halted a car carrying six mine removers and abducted them early yesterday morning. On Saturday jihadis attacked a convoy of de-miners, allowing all but six to walk free.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions, but the Taliban are active in the area.

Meanwhile, in the southern Uruzgan province, the Taliban launched an assault on Afghan security forces in the Gizab district, said district administrator Obaidullah ZafarI.

'Insurgents have already taken control of a dozen police checkpoints, and are trying to take over the whole district,' he said, adding that two policemen have been killed and 10 others wounded.

'They are in need of immediate assistance from the central government. Otherwise, the district will fall into the hands of the enemy,' he said.