A US drone strike has killed 14 ISIS militants in a remote area in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, Afghan officials said Saturday.

Abdul Ghani Musamim, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the strike took place on Thursday afternoon in the Chawkay district.

He said it targeted a meeting of ISIS commanders planning for a terrorist attack.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Dawlat Waziri, confirmed the report. But there was no immediate comment from the US-led forces in Afghanistan.

Lawmaker Shazada Shaheed rejected the report, claiming the victims of the strike were civilians.

The government has no control of the remote area where Afghanistan’s ISIS affiliate has managed to establish a presence.

The top US commander for the Middle East, Gen. Joseph Votel, said Friday that American troops in Afghanistan have begun working with smaller Afghan units to prepare them for a more aggressive offensive against the Taliban next year in a push to break the stalemate in the 16-year-old war.

Votel said there is still much more work to be done to improve Afghan forces. But he is seeing some positive trends in the fight.