HERAT: The Taliban publicly flogged and executed an Afghan woman for alleged adultery, a police official said on Monday, in a reminder of the era when the terrorist group ruled Afghanistan.
The 48-year-old widow was given dozens of lashes before being shot dead on Sunday in remote Qades, a district held by terrorists in northwestern Badghis province, said Abdul Jabar, a provincial officer.
“It happened before the public despite that no one has complained, the government will take its own measures about the incident,” Jabar told Reuters by telephone from Badghis. The unidentified man who had the alleged affair with the woman had escaped, he said. The Taliban staged public stonings or lashings of Afghans found to have had sex outside marriage when in power from 1996 to 2001. But Qari Yousuf, the main Taliban media spokesman, said the group was not behind the Qades execution.
 “This is a bad work and we reject it. Whoever has done is not a member of the Taliban and he is trying to defame us,” Yousuf said by phone from an undisclosed location. Another Taliban spokesman earlier said he was not aware of the incident. The Taliban are leading a growing insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign forces. The Taliban and the Afghan government are engaged in a battle to win over the hearts and minds of Afghans. www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010810story_10-8-2010_pg1_8