Warning: The video of the Pakistani Taliban executing the 15 Frontier Constabulary personnel who were captured late last year is extremely graphic.

An unedited segment of the video showing the Pakistani Taliban executing 15 Frontier Constabulary personnel who were captured in the district of Tank at the end of December has emerged on the Internet.

The video, which was published on the LiveLeak video-sharing website, shows the 15 paramilitary men blindfolded and lined up along a hillside; some are handcuffed together. Taliban fighters then take turns gunning down the Pakistani troops, one at a time, with AK-47 assault rifles.

The graphic video shows the slain Pakistani security personnel falling to the ground as those still living remain standing. The Taliban are heard chanting, “We will cross all limits to avenge your blood.”

The 15 Pakistani personnel were captured on Dec. 22, 2011 during a Taliban assault on a fort in the settled district of Tank, which borders South Waziristan. One soldier was killed during the assault. The next day, seven Frontier Corps troopers were killed in a suicide attack in the settled district of Bannu [see LWJ report, Taliban suicide bomber kills 7 Pakistani troops].

Ihsanullah Ihsan, a Taliban spokesman, said the Dec. 22 and 23 attacks were carried out to avenge the death of Taj Gul Mehsud, a senior deputy to Hakeemullah Mehsud, the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Taj Gul was killed along with 12 other fighters in a US airstrike in South Waziristan on Oct. 26 [see LWJ report, Taliban avenge death of commander killed in October drone strike].

The execution video does not show the statement made by the Taliban leader, who described why the Pakistani troops were being slaughtered. Reuters provided a translation of that portion of the video.

“Twelve of our comrades were besieged and mercilessly martyred in the Khyber [tribal] agency (area),” the commander said. “Our pious women were also targeted. To avenge those comrades, we will kill these men. We warn the government of Pakistan that if the killing of our friends is not halted, this will be the fate of you all.”

One of the Frontier Constabulary personnel described the Taliban raid that resulted in their capture.

“They attacked us with rockets, killed a sentry. One ran away. The Taliban entered the fort and captured us with our weapons,” he said. “They tied our hands, put us in a Datsun and took us away.”

The Taliban have released similar videos of the executions of captured Pakistani security personnel in the past. In July 2011, a video emerged of the brutal execution of 16 Pakistani policemen who were captured in Dir. [See LWJ report, Video of brutal Taliban execution of Pakistani policemen emerges.]

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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