| 1 | Kabul: The Taliban condemned a video released this week showing what appeared to be a group of fighters belonging to the radical Islamic State movement killing a group of Afghan prisoners by blowing them up with explosives. |
| 2 | The video, apparently shot in the eastern Afghan province of in June, gave a glimpse into the struggle the Taliban is waging against Islamic State - both considered ultra-hardline groups - for supremacy of the Islamist insurgency in Afghanistan. |
| 3 | "A horrific video was released yesterday showing kidnappers who associate themselves with Daesh [Islamic State] brutally martyring several white-bearded tribal elders and villagers with explosives," a statement posted on the Taliban's website said. |
| 4 | The Taliban, which itself if frequently accused of brutality against Afghan government soldiers that it captures, said prisoners should never be treated in such a manner. |
| 5 | "This offence and other such brutal actions by a few irresponsible ignorant individuals under the guise of Islam and Muslims are intolerable," it said. |
| 6 | Groups associated with Islamic State have made growing inroads in Afghanistan in recent years, attracting fighters and support away from the Taliban by preaching a more extreme form of Islamist militancy. |
| 7 | The video contained a message in Arabic and a Pashto language commentary which said that a group of what it called "apostates" had been captured following a battle between IS fighters, Taliban and Afghan government forces. |
| 8 | The bound captives appear to have been local men who had fought with or helped the Taliban. |
| 9 | After showing the explosion which killed the men, the video ends with a message in Arabic urging local people to heed the lesson. |