Militants from the Takfiri Daesh have kidnapped hundreds of civilians in the troubled eastern Afghanistan over the past two months, local officials say.

Haji Ghalib Mujahid, the governor of Achin District in the eastern Nangarhar Province, announced on Wednesday that the militants abducted around 300 civilians across several villages of the province.

The fate and whereabouts of villagers kidnapped by Daesh militants are still unknown, the official added.

Mujahid also pointed out that the militants have been running several secret detention centers across the volatile region.

Meanwhile, local residents say Daesh militants have also abducted several community leaders and tribal elders across Nangarhar in recent weeks.

The abductions have sent shockwaves throughout the whole region. Officials have also launched a massive operation to locate and release the hostages.

Daesh militants have also recently abducted at least 20 Shia Muslims from the Hazara community from a highway linking the Afghan capital, Kabul, to the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. The kidnapping took place on November 21, with Afghan officials saying that the victims had been taken away from the bus they were travelling in at gunpoint.

Nangarhar and some other Afghan provinces have been witnessing a rise in the number of Daesh terrorists in some of its districts in recent months.

On June 16, the Afghan Taliban militant group warned Daesh ringleader Ibrahim al-Samarrai, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, against “waging a parallel insurgency in Afghanistan.”