Kabul, August 10: The Afghan woman publicly executed by Taliban militants for alleged adultery was pregnant, it emerged today.
The victim, 48-year-old Bibi Sanubar, was flogged up to 200 times before being shot on Sunday in the head and chest in the remote Qades district. Her alleged lover managed to escape.
Abdul Jabbar Khan, security chief in the Taliban-controlled area, said the killing was ordered after the woman allegedly killed her newborn child to conceal illicit sex.
The international coalition in the country issued a slightly different version of the incident, saying Sanubar was a still-pregnant widow who was killed for alleged adultery.
Elders in the village of Quds contacted Taliban commanders after the woman’s pregnancy became known. A local official said: ‘She had an illegal relationship with a man who was not her husband.’
But he added: ‘ Her husband died many years before. Then she became pregnant so, according to Islam, we gave her a very strong punishment. It was more than 200 lashes. Then we shot her.’
Afghan police said the body was later dumped in an area under government control.
-Agencies