The two people have been publicly stoned to death in Afghanistan's once peaceful north over an alleged love affair.

The alleged lovers, who were engaged to be married to other people, were arrested by the Taliban on the request of their families after they tried to elope.

The video shows a woman wearing a blue burkah buried up to her waist as a baying crowd hurl rocks at her head and body.

She is then shot three times by a Taliban fighter.

Her alleged lover is then blindfolded and his hands tied behind his back before he also is battered by a barrage of rocks.

A government official has condemned the execution, which took place in August 2010 in the district of Dashte Archi, in Kunduz.

“It is against all human rights and international conventions. There was no court,” he said.

Stoning is outlawed in Afghanistan, but Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said: “Stoning is in the Koran, it is Islamic law.”

Sharia prescribes punishments such as stoning, lashings, amputations and execution.

Some Afghans still refer to Taliban courts for settling disputes, viewing government bodies as corrupt or unreliable.

Despite the presence of more than 140,000 foreign troops, backed by 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police, the Taliban have managed to spread beyond their traditional strongholds in the south into formerly peaceful areas like Kunduz.