Taliban puts out video showing execution of policemen

The video shows the 16 policemen lined up on a hillside with their hands tied behind their backs, standing in front of armed Taliban fighters wearing scarves to hide their faces.

One of the insurgents accused the men of executing six children from Pakistan’s Swat Valley by firing squad.

“They are the enemies of the religion of Allah,” the man said of the police officers.

He and several other fighters then opened fire on the policemen, who crumpled to the ground.

Several of them were still moaning, and one fighter is seen walking down the line shooting the policemen in the head.

The video was posted on the LiveLeak website and included a note saying the policemen were captured when the Taliban staged a cross-border raid from Afghanistan on June 1 in Pakistan’s north-west Dir district.

Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the Taliban fighters who killed the policemen were from the Swat Valley.