Advertisement
Advertisement
Afghanistan
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Taliban fighters stand guard along a road in Herat, Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

Taliban hangs dead body from crane in Afghan city’s main square

  • A pharmacy owner in Herat said four bodies were brought to the square and three bodies were moved to other squares in the city to be displayed
  • The militant group said that the four were caught taking part in a kidnapping and were killed by police
Afghanistan
The Taliban hanged a dead body from a crane in the main square of Herat city in western Afghanistan, a witness said on Saturday, in a gruesome display that signalled a return to some of the group’s methods of the past.

Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, who runs a pharmacy on the side of the square, said that four bodies were brought to the square and three bodies were moved to other squares in the city to be displayed.

Seddiqi said the Taliban announced in the square that the four were caught taking part in a kidnapping and were killed by police.

Ziaulhaq Jalali, a Taliban-appointed district police chief in Herat, said later that the fighters rescued a father and son who had been abducted by four kidnappers after an exchange of gunfire.

He said a Taliban fighter and a civilian were wounded by the kidnappers but “the four [kidnappers] were killed in crossfire.”

Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, one of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan, said this week that the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.

03:14

95 per cent of Afghans face starvation due to ongoing drought and poor economy

95 per cent of Afghans face starvation due to ongoing drought and poor economy

Since the Taliban overran Kabul on August 15 and seized control of the country, Afghans and the world have been watching to see whether they will recreate their harsh rule of the late 1990s.

The group’s leaders remain entrenched in a deeply conservative, hard-line world view, even if they are embracing technological changes, like video and mobile phones.

Also on Saturday, a Taliban official said a roadside bomb hit a Taliban car in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province wounding at least one person.

People gather in the main square of Herat city where the Taliban hanged a dead body from a crane on Saturday. Photo: AP

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Islamic State group affiliate, which is headquartered in eastern Afghanistan, has said it was behind similar attacks in Jalalabad last week that killed 12 people.

Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Hanif said the person wounded in the attack is a municipal worker.

4