Taliban execute opposition leader

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — In a stunning blow to U.S.-backed efforts to undermine the Taliban, the ruling Islamic militia Friday captured and executed a former guerrilla leader who slipped into Afghanistan to try to lure tribal leaders away from the regime.

U.S. jets struck a Red Cross compound in Kabul for a second time this month.

Abdul Haq, whose death was confirmed by his family, was the second prominent Afghan opposition leader killed in recent weeks. Northern Alliance military leader Ahmed Shah Massood was assassinated by suicide bombers last month.

Haq returned to Afghanistan six days ago to try to convince Afghan tribal leaders to support a U.S.-backed plan under which former king Mohammad Zaher Shah would convene a grand council of all Afghan factions to organize a new government to replace the ruling militia.

Haq’s nephew, Mohammed Yousuf, told reporters in Pakistan that the former guerrilla and a companion were taken to the Rishkore barracks near Kabul and hanged. Their bodies were then sprayed with bullets, he said.

The Taliban’s Bakhtar news agency said Haq was executed because he was spying for Britain and the United States. Bakhtar claimed he was found with two satellite telephones, U.S. dollars and unspecified documents.

During daylight attacks in Kabul, one U.S. bomb exploded near the compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross, setting a warehouse filled with humanitarian goods on fire. U.S. jets attacked the same compound Oct. 16.

"Of course, I am sad. We had special programs over the next several days to distribute these items to the disabled people," Red Cross worker Abdul Rashid said as he watched the flames.