Abducted young son of Afghan policeman 'hanged by Taleban'

THE eight-year-old son of an Afghan policeman was kidnapped and hanged by the Taleban, officials said yesterday, after his father refused their offer to swap places with him.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing in Helmand as a "brutal and cowardly crime that is not acceptable in any religion or culture".

It came as British forces admitted that their helicopters had accidentally wounded five children in a separate operation, also in Helmand, to kill a Taleban commander.

Afghan officials said the policeman's son was kidnapped in Gereshk, in the centre of the province, on Tuesday. He was found strangled in a ditch on Friday.

Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the insurgents phoned the boy's father and demanded that he surrender himself along with a number of weapons and a police pick-up truck. The policeman, identified locally as Mohammad Daoud, worked as a driver for the local force commander in Gereshk and had access to their fleet of green Ford Rangers.

However, locals said Mr Daoud refused the Taleban demand without even realising that his son was missing because he thought the call was a prank.

It was only later, when he went home and found the boy's mother in tears that he realised the threats were real and raised the alarm.

Although it was not the first time children have been deliberately executed in Helmand, the Taleban denied responsibility and Mr Karzai blamed "terorrists" without naming the insurgents directly.

In neighbouring Nahr-e Saraj district, where British troops are based, at least five children were hurt when an Apache helicopter gunship opened fire on them in a field.

The Ministry of Defence said it was a matter of "deep regret". The state-of-the-art helicopter, which is designed to shoot at whatever the pilot looks at, was targeting a "positively identified" Taleban commander in a nearby compound, a spokesman said.

Although officials gave no indication of the children's wounds, all five were transported to Camp Bastion for further treatment. "A shooting incident review is now under way and UK officials in Afghanistan are keeping the provincial governor abreast of the results," he added.

In Kunar province, in the east, a US Chinook helicopter was shot down by insurgents armed with a rocket, Afghan officials said. Nato confirmed that a helicopter crashed and that soldiers had to fight through small arms fire to secure the site, but a spokesman said none of the soldiers on board were killed.