Seventeen civilians were beheaded by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on Sunday for attending a party in defiance of the Islamist group, government officials said.
The bodies of two women and 15 men were were discovered on Monday morning by the side of a road in the Musa Qala district of Helmand.
All of the victims had their heads chopped off in the attack said Daoud Ahmadi, a Helmand provincial government official cited by Pakistan's The Dawn newspaper. He said it was not clear if they were shot first.
The victims' bodies also had signs of beating and some had gunshot wounds, local officials said.
Musa Qala government chief Neyamatullah Khan told the paper the people had gathered for a celebration and were playing music and dancing. He said Taliban insurgents who disapprove of men and women mixing socially wanted to stop the event.
The area where the massacre took place is completely under Taliban control, Khan said.
Taliban insurgents have been blamed in the past by the government for beheading local villagers, mostly for allegedly spying for Afghan and the International Security Assistance Force.
