The bodies of four kidnappers hung after killing them during a shootout in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat on Saturday, a senior official said.
In a statement by governor Mawlawi Shir Ahmad Muhajir ‘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.’ – the Herat province’s deputy governor said.
The crowd looked as a pick-up truck carried bloody bodies while a crane hoisted one man up. The Taliban fighters gathered around the vehicle. Showed in a graphic image posted on social media.
There was another video that also displayed a man suspended from a crane, showing the major roundabout in Herat with a sign on his chest reading: “Abductors will be punished like this”.
As a result, fearsome spark through people’s minds as the Taliban measures over the kidnapping may likely to result in similar Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.
On Saturday morning, the security forces were informed that a businessman and his son had been abducted in the city.
After which the police shut down the roads out of the city while the Taliban was able to stop the men at a checkpoint, where “an exchange of fire happened”, Muhajir said.
“As a result of a few minutes of fighting, one of our Mujahideen was wounded and all four kidnappers were killed,”
“We are the Islamic Emirate. No one should harm our nation. No one should kidnap,” Muhajir told AFP.
In addition to that, earlier on Saturday, there had been other kidnappings in the city, and the Taliban rescued a boy.
In the incident, one of the kidnappers was killed and three others were arrested. Muhajir added that in another case the Taliban “failed and the abductors were able to make money”.
“It saddened us a lot because while we are in Herat, our people are being abducted,” Muhajir said.
“To be a lesson for other kidnappers not to kidnap or harass anyone, we hung them in the squares of the city and made this clear to everyone that anyone who steals or abducts or does any action against our people will be punished.”
