Taliban insurgents beheaded 17 civilians, including two women, who were holding a party with music in a southern Afghanistan village, officials said today.
"I can confirm that this is the work of theTaliban," the Helmand provincial governor's spokesman Daud Ahmadi toldAFP, referring to the hardliners notorious during their rule for publicexecutions and the suppression of music and parties.
"Two women and 15 men were beheaded. They were partyingwith music in an area under the control of the Taliban," he said.
Nematullah Khan, the Musa Qala district chief confirmed thatthe villagers had organised a party with music, and one local official said hesuspected that the two women had been dancing.
Secret parties with dancing women from a gypsy-type tribeare common across southern Afghanistan.
During their 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan the Taliban,waging a fierce insurgency against the NATO-backed government of PresidentHamid Karzai, also tried to stop the mixing of men and women who were notrelated.
The latest atrocity happened near Zamindawar village, anarea on the border between Kajaki and Musa Qala districts where the Taliban areactive.
The insurgents have in the past been blamed for beheadinglocal villagers, mostly over charges of spying for Afghan and US-led NATOforces.
Haji Musa Khan, a tribal elder in Musa Qala district, saidthe region had seen a surge in such killings in recent months.
