Taliban provincial governor Maulvi Sher Ahmad Ammar said the men were killed in clashes with Taliban fighters after a merchant and his son were kidnapped, who were later rescued. “The bodies were hung in the town squares to serve as a deterrent to the other kidnappers so that no one would dare to commit such a crime again,” he said.

In a video circulated on social media, the bloodied body of a man can be seen wrapped in chains and suspended from a crane in the central square of Herat. Dozens of people can also be seen filming the scene with their mobile phones. Wazir Ahmed Seddiqi, who owns a pharmacy in the city square, told the Associated Press news agency that the other three bodies had been taken to other places in the city for public display.

During Taliban rule in the late 1990s, the extremist group was known to punish crimes with corporal punishment such as public flogging, public stoning, and amputation.

The group once again seized power in Afghanistan last month. Since then, Afghans and governments around the world have been watching to see if armed Islamists would rule more moderately this time. So far, there is little evidence of this, despite initial promises to those in power.

Yesterday it was announced The Taliban will again carry out executions and amputations. Mullah Noureddine al-Turabi told The Associated Press. The cleric is one of the founders of the extremist movement and wants a strict interpretation of Islamic law. He stated at that time that death sentences and punishments may not be carried out in public.

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