Kabul, June 6 (RHC)-- At least 17 people have been killed in two U.S. assassination drone strikes in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. According to Afghan officials, the strikes took place in Haska Mina and Chaparhar districts of Nangarhar Province.

Officials said that the raids targeted vehicles carrying Taliban militants with reports saying that Moulvi Aziz, a Taliban commander, is among the dead. Washington employs unmanned aerial vehicles in an alleged bid to target terrorists in Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Somalia. This is while local officials and witnesses say that the drone strikes have mostly claimed the lives of civilians over the past years.

Afghanistan was invaded by the U.S. and its allies in 2001 under the pretext of Washington’s anti-terror campaign. The invasion removed Taliban militants from power, but insecurity, instability and violence still plague the country.

A recent study shows that almost 100,000 people were killed and a same number of others wounded in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in 2001. Although the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan officially terminated in December 2014, there still remain over 13,500 foreign forces, mainly from the United States, in Afghanistan.