Afghanistan Hangs 6 Taliban Prisoners

Afghan officials hanged six Taliban inmates as a part of a crackdown following a Kabul attack last month that left 64 people dead. The condemned, which included two Taliban members accused of killings of two senior government officials, “perpetrated grave crimes against civilians and public security,” the presidential palace said Sunday. One inmate staged a suicide attack on President Burhanuddin Rabbani in 2011 while a second prisoner was involved in the 2009 assassination of Abdullah Laghmani, the deputy chief of the Afghan National Directorate of Security. The executions follow last month’s suicide bombing in Kabul, in which President Ashraf Ghani vowed a tougher response to insurgent attacks.