Policemen's bodies left as a warning

Taliban militants slashed the hands and legs of five abducted policemen in a southern province and hung their mutilated bodies from trees in a warning to villagers against working with the government, officials said.

"The Taliban told the people that whoever works with the government will suffer the same fate as these policemen," said provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat.

The discovery of the bodies in Derawud district came as officials said that recent violence had left at least 68 people dead across Afghanistan, including two Canadians whose NATO patrol was the target of a suicide bombing.