Taliban executioner arrested: Mashal

KABUL executioner has been arrested in southern Helmand province by intelligence officials, an official said on Tuesday.

Mullah) spokesman said.

Lotfullah Mashal told a press conference in Kabul the detainee had confessed to beheading government officials and workers of non-governmental organisations.

The 30-year-old detainee, also a prayer leader in a Nawzad mosque, told investigators he had joined a Taliban group led by Bilal — a sub-commander of Mullah Nazar, alias Mazloomyar, three years ago.

In a video tape made available to Pajhwok Afghan News, Jan confessed to carrying out militant activities in the Toranj Nawa village of Marja district.

He was appointed as Mullah Nazar’s deputy after the death of Bilal and served as member of a Taliban commission in Nawzad district. The commission decides on the fate of government employees in Taliban captivity.

The executioner said he had decapitated three people in Nawzad after they were sentenced to death by the commission. The beheadings were carried out by him and two other members of the body after Eidul Fitr.

Mashal said an Afghan journalist, Ajmal Naqshbandi, might have been beheaded by Jan four years ago in Helmand. “We are investigating the man to ascertain how many government employees and NGOs workers have been killed by him,” Mashal said.

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