Afghan militia decapitate four ISIS fighters

Four men have been beheaded from each side, in a blood-thirsty decapitation war following a gunfight on Saturday.

The ISIS fighters were beheaded by the militia group, in pay-back after ISIS beheaded four of the militia members.

The killings have been going on in the eastern border province of Nangarhar, in Afghanistan. 

Ghalib Mujahib, governor of the Achin district in the south of Nangarhar province, said that the eight men who died had all been captured by their opposition during battles on Saturday. 

He said that four members of the militia group - which is controlled by prominent lawmaker Zahir Qadir, deputy speaker of parliament - were taken hostage during a gunfight with ISIS, and beheaded. 

In revenge, four of the five ISIS gunmen captured by the militia men were also beheaded. The heads were then placed on stones along a main road through Achin.  

'We condemn the act of Daesh, and of course we condemn the act of Qadir's men here,' continued Mujahib, using an alternative name for ISIS.

'It is not acceptable for either side to act like this.'  

It is not unusual for powerful figures in Afghanistan to control personal militias, though the central government and international organisations such as the United Nations have expressed concern about a growing number of armed groups that are not part of the government's security force.

Achin is one of four districts that Afghan officials say has come under ISIS control in recent months. 

Government forces have returned to the area to try to dislodge the extremists, who also fought fierce battles with the rival Taliban in the region during the summer months.

ISIS has a presence in other volatile regions of Afghanistan, but Nangarhar appears to be their main powerbase.  

Meanwhile, in southern Helmand province - where the Taliban are fighting government forces for control of a number of districts - a roadside bomb killed a local police commander and two of his bodyguards, said provincial police spokesman Shah Mahmood Ashna.

He said that other two police officers were wounded in the explosion in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

(dailymail.co.uk)