The Taliban on Monday released a video of its fighters shooting down at least 17 Pakistani policemen captured in a raid on the border areas from Afghanistan. Billing the policemen as enemies of Islam, a Talib is heard saying that these policemen were responsible for the execution of six children in neighbouring Swat which had been taken over by the Taliban a couple of years ago.

With their hands tied behind them, the policemen were lined up against a hillside and shot down by four masked men in a firing squad-like scene. Even after the policemen had fallen, the five-and-a-half-minute-long video shows the Taliban meticulously ensuring that each had been killed.

After the first burst of fire that brought all the policemen down, one Talib is shown shooting at each man at close range. Checking three times on each of the policemen — albeit without bending — another Talib fires at a couple of the downed men.

Posted on LiveLeak — an online video sharing portal — the clip is accompanied by a note which claims that the men were captured on June 1 during a raid on Upper Dir; an area close to the Kunar province where many of the terrorists who fled the Pakistan Army operations in Swat are said to be hiding. The Pakistan Army has confirmed the gunning down of these policemen.

In the June 1 raid on a check post in Upper Dir in Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa along the Durand Line, 30 people — including five civilians — were killed. The terrorists — who got support from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan also set ablaze six schools and it took Pakistan’s security forces — including air back-up — more than a day to bring the situation under control. Over 40 insurgents were also killed in the operation.

Cross-border raids from Afghanistan have increased in recent months and Pakistan has registered a protest with Kabul and raised the matter at various levels including high-level meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The two countries have agreed to step up intelligence and military cooperation to check such raids on either country with Mr. Karzai stressing the need to ensure that terrorists do not cross into Afghanistan either from Pakistan’s tribal areas.