The family of a pregnant former policewoman were forced to watch on in horror as she was executed by Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan.
Banu Negar was beaten and eventually killed by the Taliban after the militants stormed her home in Firozkoh, seven hours west of Kabul.
The Taliban denies killing Negar, who was eight months' pregnant, but multiple sources confirmed to the BBC that the group had beaten and shot her dead in front of her husband and children on Saturday.
Photos circulating on social media, taken by family members, showed blood splattered on a wall and Negar's disfigured face. Another photo showed two screwdrivers covered in blood.
Negar had worked as a police officer but was most recently employed at a local prison.
Witnesses told local media that three gunmen stormed the house on Saturday morning before tying the family up.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed denied the group's involvement in the attack and said they were investigating.
"We are aware of the incident and I am confirming that the Taliban have not killed her, our investigation is ongoing," he said.
He said Negar's murder was due to "personal enmity or something else" and the Taliban had already announced an amnesty for Afghans who had worked for the former government or with allied forces.
However, the Taliban's amnesty promise has already been violated on numerous occasions.
Haji Mullah Achakzai, who served in the Afghan Armed Forces, was employed as the police chief of the Badghis province near the city of Herat when he was captured by the Taliban.
A video posted to Twitter by a friend of Achakzai showed the police chief kneeling in the sand blindfolded with his hands tied in front of him. He was surrounded by Taliban soldiers who then shot him several times and left his body lying in the sand.
There are also numerous reports of Taliban "death squads" going door-to-door to execute people who helped the former Afghan government or its Western allies.
A Taliban fighter in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 4. Photo / AP
A senior US official told Fox News that mere hours after the US withdrew from Afghanistan on August 31, Taliban members were searching for people.
Last week, a former translator for a high-ranking US Army Ranger told Fox News the Taliban had started executing allies of the US in public, in provinces away from the media spotlight.
"They are not doing really bad stuff in Kabul right now because there's a lot of media focus on Kabul, but they already started public execution in other provinces where a lot of media is not available or covering it," the interpreter said.
The Taliban surged to power last month after seizing on President Joe Biden's promise to withdraw all US forces by August 31. It took the group less than two weeks to conquer Afghanistan and regain control of the country.
The militant group, which ruled under its strict interpretation of sharia law from 1996 to 2001, was overthrown by the US in 2001 after the September 11 terror attacks.
