Taliban hang bodies as warning in city of Herat
KABUL - The Taliban say they have shot dead four alleged kidnappers and hung their bodies in public squares in the Afghan city of Herat.
The gruesome display came a day after a notorious Taliban official warned that extreme punishments such as executions and amputations would resume.
The men were killed in a gun battle after allegedly seizing a businessman and his son, a local official said. Local residents said a body was hung from a crane in the city centre.
Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, a local shopkeeper, told the Associated Press news agency that four bodies were brought to the square, one was hung there and the three other bodies were moved to other squares in the city to be displayed.
The deputy governor of Herat, Maulwai Shair, said displaying the bodies was done to deter further abductions. He said the men were killed in a gun battle after the
Taliban learnt that they had kidnapped a businessman and his son - who were both freed.
Graphic images shared on social media appeared to show bloody bodies on the back of a pick-up truck with a crane hoisting one man up. Another video showed a man suspended from a crane with a sign on his chest reading: "Abductors will be punished like this."
Since taking power in Afghanistan on August 15, the Taliban have been promising a milder form of rule than in their previous tenure.
But there have already been numerous reports of human rights abuses carried out across the country.
The Taliban's notorious former head of religious police Mullah Nooruddin Turabi - now in charge of prisons - said on Thursday that extreme punishments such as executions and amputations would resume in Afghanistan as they were "necessary for security."