Herat is reeling from yet another horrific crime against women and children.
A Taliban official confirmed reports that three men sexually assaulted a woman pregnant with twins then murdered her along with another child.
Sources told Rukhshana Media that an angry crowd surrounded the Zawul district building of the governor and demanded revenge.
They say the Taliban then took the accused men out of prison and shot them in front of the local people.
Abu Mansour, the Taliban district governor for Zawul district of Herat province, confirmed the men had been killed but denied the Taliban were responsible.
He said the accused had been in prison for two days when local people attacked them with stones and knives then shot them.
“Local people demonstrated this morning,” he says. “Despite their aerial fire, our forces could not stop them. They took out the prisoners and killed them.”
Rukhshana Media has seen photos of the bodies of the three young men. Their hands were tied behind their backs.
The names of the accused and the victims have not been released but they are believed to have all lived in the same area.
Since taking control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have reinstated kangaroo courts and carried out public floggings of men and women around the country.
In December last year, the Taliban publicly executed a resident of Farah Province named Tajmir on charges of murder.
