KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Taliban security forces shot dead two young men in northern Baghlan province and publicly displayed their bodies in a local market after accusing them of ties to an armed resistance group, local sources reported.
The victims, identified by the sources as Amrullah and Nora, were killed on Friday morning in the mountains of Khost district, along the border between Baghlan and neighboring Takhar province.
According to the sources, Taliban forces later took the bodies to a local market, poured acid on them and left them on public display, preventing residents from removing them.
The two men had been traveling to Takhar to work in the mines and were carrying a single pellet gun for personal security on the mountainous routes, the sources added. They rejected the Taliban’s accusation, saying the men had no connection to any armed groups.
A Taliban-controlled media outlet, citing the provincial governor’s office in Baghlan, confirmed the incident and accused the men of links to the National Resistance Front (NRF), an armed group resisting Taliban rule.
In a separate incident reported by local sources, two NRF commanders identified as Shamsuddin and Commander Baba were killed in a clash with Taliban forces in Baghlan’s Nahrin district on Thursday night.
The Taliban-affiliated outlet Hindukush confirmed the deaths of the two commanders. It said Taliban forces also seized weapons, ammunition and a night-vision device during the operation.
The NRF has not yet commented on either incident.
The NRF, led by Ahmad Massoud, operates mainly in Panjshir, Kabul and northern Afghanistan. It has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks against Taliban forces since the group returned to power in 2021.
Earlier this year, Taliban forces killed Hasib Panjshiri, a senior NRF commander, in Salang district while he was traveling toward Baghlan. He was one of the group’s prominent commanders fighting the Taliban. His body was later handed over to his relatives, who were reportedly restricted from holding a funeral.
Since regaining control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have detained, tortured, and in some cases killed civilians, particularly those from Panjshir province, on accusations of ties to armed opposition groups, according to human rights organizations.
