Taleban insurgents have beheaded two former Afghan government officials in the southern province of Helmand, officials said today. Local officials said the bodies were dumped today beside a road in Lashkargah, the provincial capital of Helmand where British troops have started deploying as part of Nato's expansion plan.One of the dead men was Abdul Razaaq, a former pro-government militia commander for the province, they said.
The interior ministry in Kabul said the beheadings were carried out by "Afghanistan's enemies", a term usually used by Afghan officials to describe Taleban and al Qaeda allies. A Taleban commander said Taleban militants were behind the beheadings. "We beheaded them because they had committed heinous atrocities," the commander said.
The incident is part of growing violence by militants in the restive province where one policeman was killed and five others wounded today after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle, a local official said. Yesterday two local police and one Taleban fighter were killed in a clash in another area of the province, according to local officials.