On Saturday, a local government official reported that Taliban authorities in the western Afghan city of Herat murdered four alleged kidnappers and hung their bodies in public to dissuade others.

According to Sher Ahmad Ammar, deputy governor of Herat, the men had kidnapped a local businessman and his son. They planned to take them out of the city when they were observed by patrols who had set up checkpoints around the city.

Following a gunfight, all four men were killed, while one Taliban soldier was injured.

"Their bodies were carried to the main square and hung throughout the city as a warning to other kidnappers," he claimed.

According to him, the two victims were discharged uninjured.

Mohammad Nazir, a Herat local, claimed he was out shopping near the city's Mostofiat Square when he heard a loudspeaker announcement requesting public attention. He explained, "When I stepped forward, I saw they had brought a body in a pickup truck and then hung it up on a crane."

Bloody victims were seen in the back of a pickup truck, while one man was carried up by a crane, according to graphic photographs shared on social media. Another video showed a man hung from a crane at a prominent roundabout in Herat with the words "Abductors will be punished like this" written on his chest.

Four bodies were carried to the central plaza, and three were moved to other parts of the city for public exhibition, according to Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, who owns a pharmacy on the square's side. According to the Taliban, the four were found taking part in a kidnapping and executed by the police.

After an exchange of gunfire, Taliban members rescued a father and son who had been kidnapped by four armed kidnappers, according to Ziaulhaq Jalali, a Taliban-appointed district police commander in Herat. He added that the kidnappers injured a Taliban fighter and a civilian, but the four (kidnappers) were killed in the crossfire.

The bodies were displayed in several public spots on the same day as the killings, according to Herat Deputy Governor Mawlawi Shir Ahmad Muhajir, to convey a "lesson" that kidnapping would not be condoned.

Muhajir said security forces received information on Saturday morning that a businessman and his son had been kidnapped in the city. Following that, authorities shut off the city's exit lanes, and the Taliban halted the guys at a checkpoint, resulting in a firefight, he added. "One of our Mujahideen was wounded and all four kidnappers were killed as a result of a few minutes of fighting," the deputy governor stated in a taped statement.

"We are the Islamic Emirate. No one should betray our country," In the video clip, he says, "No one should kidnap."

Before Saturday's occurrence, Muhajir said, there had been other kidnappings in the city, and the Taliban had retrieved a boy. One kidnapper was slain, and three others were apprehended, though the Taliban "failed and the abductors were able to make money" in another case.

"It saddened us greatly because our people are being kidnapped while we are in Herat," the deputy governor alleged.

"We hung them in the city squares as a lesson to other kidnappers not to kidnap or harass anyone," he explained. "We made it clear to everyone that anyone who steals, abducts, or does anything against our people will be punished," he continued.

The show, which took place in various main squares, is the city's most visible public punishment since the Taliban took power last month, and it's a hint they'll continue to use terror to rule, as they did before.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, a top Taliban leader, and prisons chief, recently threatened that the group might reinstate punishments such as amputations and executions to dissuade criminals.

Despite worldwide outrage, the Taliban stated that they would continue to inflict swift and severe punishments on lawbreakers to reduce the prevalence of crimes such as robbery, murder, and kidnapping in Afghanistan.

Washington, which slammed Mullah Nooruddin's statements on punishments, said any recognition of the Taliban-led government in Kabul would be conditional on human rights being respected.

According to a Taliban spokesperson, a roadside bomb damaged a Taliban car in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday, injuring at least one person.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast right away. Last week, an Islamic State affiliate based in eastern Afghanistan claimed responsibility for similar strikes in Jalalabad that killed 12 people.