Taliban Executes Pakistani Policemen on Camera
Graphic video shows massacre of unarmed policemen by Taliban.
July 18, 2011 — -- In a new video which recently surfaced online, the Taliban appears to brutally and systematically execute 16 unarmed Pakistani policemen in what the terror group called a revenge killing.
The video of the massacre, which reportedly took place in early June, was posted online last week and confirmed by the Pakistani army today. It shows the policemen -- who are not in uniform -- standing in a line before a Taliban member who appears to be lecturing them. The man, who appears to act as the militants' commander, accuses the policemen of executing six children in a previous operation and claims their imminent deaths are revenge, according to a summary posted with the video.
Several Taliban members then open fire on the group until all the policemen have fallen. A wailing cry is heard in the background after the initial volley. After reloading, a single fighter walks over each body and shoots them once more in the head.
WATCH a partial video of the execution.
Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said today the policemen had been captured during a Taliban attack launched out of Afghanistan into Pakistan's Upper Dir district in June. No Taliban faction has publicly taken credit for the attack as of this report.
Reports of the video surfaced just hours after the Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the death of a key advisor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a week after the group also said it ordered the assassination of Karzai's half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai.
READ: Afghan President Hamid Karzai Half-Brother Assassinated