Taliban hang corpse in main square of Herat in Afghanistan

The act signalled a return to some of the group's past methods

A Taliban fighter prays next to a demonstration organised by the Afghan Society of Muslim Youth, demanding the release of frozen international money in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP Photo

A Taliban fighter and a group of Afghan men attend Friday prayers in Kabul. AP Photo

Taliban soldiers in Bagram Air Base in Parwan. Reuters

Taliban soldiers Seifatollah and Vasighollah stand in a prison in Bagram Air Base. Reuters

Taliban patrol Kabul. EPA

Vahdat, a Taliban soldier and former prisoner, stands next to exercise equipment in Bagram Air Base. Reuters

A Taliban fighter stands guard near Zanbaq Square in Kabul. AFP

Taliban fighters police a road in Herat. AFP

The Taliban hung a body from a crane in the main square of Herat city in western Afghanistan, witnesses said on Saturday.

Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, who runs a pharmacy on the side of the square, told AP that four bodies were brought to the main square.

One was hung there and the other three moved to other parts of the city for public display.

The Taliban announced in the square that the four were caught taking part in a kidnapping and were killed by police, Mr Seddiqi said.

Ziaulhaq Jalali, a Taliban-appointed district police chief in Herat, said that after an exchange of gunfire, Taliban members rescued a father and son who had been abducted by four kidnappers.

He said a Taliban fighter and a civilian were wounded by the kidnappers but “the four [kidnappers] were killed in crossfire.”

The Taliban will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, said Nooruddin Turabi, a founder of the hardline movement.

He was a chief enforcer of the Taliban's harsh interpretation of Sharia when they previously ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, a Taliban official said a roadside bomb hit a Taliban car in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, wounding at least one person.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif said the person wounded in the attack is a municipal worker.