Posted on July 10, 2012

The Moment Helpless Afghan Woman, 22, Is Gunned Down ‘Because Two Fighters Couldn’t Decide Who Could Have Her’

Sara Malm, Daily Mail (London), July 9, 2012

Gunned down with an AK47 as baying villagers cheer in delight, this is the shocking moment a burqa-clad woman was executed in Afghanistan for her part in a Taliban love triangle.

The 22-year-old woman, said to have been married to a member of a hardline Taliban militant group, was shot dead after being accused of adultery with a Taliban commander.

Horrific pictures show a crowd of bearded men gather to watch a rifle-wielding gunman shoot her in the head and back during the execution in Qimchok village, in Afghanistan’s Parwan province.

Amateur footage of the brutal killing shows the woman, known only as Najiba, slump to the floor, as dozens of men on a nearby hillside cheer, ‘God is great!’
The unidentified shooter, who is seen wearing an orange pakol (the traditional Afghan hat), swiftly executes her – but continues to shoot her dead body whilst walking towards it.

Officials in Afghanistan said the killing came about due to a dispute between two Taliban members, who had argued over the woman.

Parwan province governor Abdul Basir Salangi told CNN that as both Taliban men ‘had some kind of relationship with the woman’, they instead opted to accuse her of adultery to ‘save face’.

The harrowing images came from an undated video, although it is thought the Afghanistan execution took place some time in late June.

The video was handed over by a Qol villager to the Parwan provincial government, situated north of Kabul, their spokeswoman Roshna Khalid told AFP today.

It is understood that both Taliban commanders have subsequently been executed.

The video has been condemned by the Afghan government as un-Islamic and inhuman.

Public executions of alleged adulterers were common when the Taliban regime was in power.

They were in control of the country from 1996 until 2001, when they were ousted by a US-led invasion for harbouring Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks.

[Editor’s Note: The New York Post is reporting that both Taliban commanders have been killed.]