Nice guys, right?

Taliban hang 8-year-old boy in Afghanistan

Kabul - Suspected Taliban militants hanged an 8-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan after ordering his father, a local police commander, to surrender, a government spokesman said Saturday.

The child was kidnapped by militants in Greshk district of the southern province of Helmand four days ago and was hanged on Friday, Daud Ahmadi, provincial governor spokesman said.

'The militants had warned his father, who is a local police commander, to surrender with his police vehicle and weapons, otherwise they would kill his son,' Ahmad said.

The Taliban have not commented.

After being driven from power in late 2001, Taliban militants have killed dozens of people accused of spying.

Last year a 7-year old boy was killed by the Taliban for being a spy for foreign soldiers in the same province.

Elsewhere, an operation by Afghan and coalition forces in Helmand left 16 militants dead overnight, officials said.

They also confiscated a drug cache of 2,000 kilograms of poppy, six kilograms of heroin, 50 kilograms of hashish and 150 kilograms of morphine, as well as 20 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, which is used as an explosive component.

Not much different from the Mexican drug cartels.