According to a report from Urdu Afghan News, Arab fighters have named Abu Ikhlas al-Misri as their new commander for the eastern Kunar province, citing a knowledgeable source. Abu Ikhlas al-Misri's nomination came in line with a recent decision of the Arab Mujahideen's Kunar-Nooristan Council, Abu Taib al-Jazairi, a representative of foreign fighters said in a telephone call from an undisclosed location. ...." Abu Ikhlas al-Misri has three daughters and two sons of his wife from Nooristan," al-Jazairi said, adding the man was long known to residents of Kunar and Nooristan, where he had played a proactive role in the jihad against the Soviet forces. Al-Jazairi went on to say "At the moment, more than 170 Arab mujahideen are fighting against the enemy in Kunar and Nooristan." Legions of Arab warriors had converged on this landlocked country in the 1980s at the height of the Afghan jihad against the erstwhile Soviet Union. He quoted the new commander as inviting Arab fighters in the region to shift to the two provinces and swell the ranks of Mujahideen that include Libyans, Egyptians, Iraqis and Yemenis.