Taliban execute four pro-government militiamen in Afghanistan

KABUL - Afghan and US troops killed 10 Taliban, including four suicide bombers, after they had beheaded four pro-government militiamen in western Afghanistan, an army commander said Sunday.

A suicide squad and other fighters planned to attack a US military base in Shindand district of the western province of Herat Saturday, said Zeinudin Sharifi, chief of Afghan regional commandos.

The militants “by chance encountered” a group of pro-government fighters, who are locally hired to protect their villages, Sharifi told DPA.

“The militants beheaded four of the community defence forces, but the fifth one is still missing,” he said.

Afghan commandos and US forces stationed in a nearby military base were deployed to the area and killed 10 Taliban fighters, he said.

“Four of them were suicide bombers, who were killed when their suicide vests were detonated by bullets during the fighting,” Sharifi said, adding that there were no casualties among the combined forces.

The incident came five days after nine Taliban suicide bombers stormed government installations in the western province of Nimruz, killing four people including a provincial lawmaker. The nine bombers were also killed either by their own explosives or by Afghan police.