Afghan officials have said that a senior commander in the armed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has been killed in a drone strike in the southern Helmand province.

Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the NDS, put out a statement on Monday saying the commander, identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf, was killed along with five other fighters when a drone-fired missile struck their car.

Police chief Nabi Jan Mullahkhel said Rauf was travelling in a car when the drone attacked, the Reuters news agency said, adding that the other casualties included his brother-in-law and four Pakistanis.

Officials told the AP news agency that the man was actively recruiting fighters for the group.

ISIL, which controls roughly a third of Syria and Iraq, has a small but growing presence in parts of Afghanistan, officials say.

A former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mullah Abdul Rauf has been influential in Afghanistan for more than a decade.

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.