Taliban Hang Bodies At Herat City Squares To Teach ‘Lesson'

Province’s Dy Guv Says The 4 Men Were Punished For ‘Kidnapping’

Kabul: The Taliban hung the bodies of four kidnappers from cranes after killing them during a shootout in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat on Saturday, a senior official said. Herat province’s deputy governor Mawlawi Shir Ahmad Muhajir said the men’s corpses were displayed in various public areas on the same day as the killings to teach a “lesson” that kidnapping will not be tolerated.

Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, who runs a pharmacy in Herat, told AP that four bodies were brought to the main square and three bodies were moved to other parts of the city for public display. Seddiqi said the Taliban announced that the four were caught taking part in a kidnapping and were killed by police. Graphic images posted to social media showed bloody bodies on the back of a pick-up truck while a crane hoisted one man up. A crowd of people looked on as armed Taliban fighters gathered around the vehicle. Another video showed a man suspended from a crane at a major roundabout in Herat with a sign on his chest reading: “Abductors will be punished like this”.

The display across several squares in the city is the most high-profile public punishment since the Taliban swept to power last month, and is a sign the Islamist hardliners will adopt fearsome measures silimiar to their previous rule from 1996 to 2001.