Guwahati News Desk: Taliban authorities killed four alleged kidnappers and hung their bodies up in public to deter others, on Saturday.
The incident occurred in the western Afghan city of Herat.
As informed by the deputy governor of Herat, Sher Ahmad Ammar, the men had kidnapped a businessman and his son and intended to take them out of the city, when they were seen by patrols that set up checkpoints around the city. Eventually, an exchange of gunfire took place in which all four were killed in the crossfire, while one Taliban soldier was wounded.
Ammar said, “Their bodies were brought to the main square and hung up in the city as a lesson for other kidnappers.”
He further informed that the two kidnapping victims were released unharmed.
Herat resident Mohammad Nazir said he had been shopping for food near the city’s Mostofiat Square when he heard a loudspeaker announcement calling for people’s attention. He said, “When I stepped forward, I saw they had brought a body in a pickup truck, then they hung it up on a crane.”
Moreover, footage of the bloodstained corpse, swinging on the crane was widely shared on social media, showing a note pinned to the man’s chest saying, “This is the punishment for kidnapping”. Also, the public display of the corpses acted as a sign of the militant group returning to a harsh version of Islamic justice in Afghanistan following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops last month.
Furthermore, the gruesome public displays come just a day after a founder of the Taliban said the group plans to bring back executions and amputations.
Photo | AP
