KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Two young people who eloped against their families' wishes were stoned to death in Afghanistan by hundreds of men, relatives said.

The hundreds of killers were carrying out a death sentence handed down by a mullah against the young man and young woman, the Los Angeles Times reported.


Mutasem Khan, an uncle of the young man, said: "It was an act of great cruelty."

The executions in a northern village in Kunduz province came just one week after another public execution in the same region -- a widow in her 40s was whipped then shot for conceiving a child out of wedlock with a man she intended to marry, the Times said.

Human rights groups verified the executions and told the Times such punishments are becoming more common as conservative local leaders get more assertive under the Taliban's growing influence and the weakening of the central government.