Thousands of spectators gathered at a dusty soccer ground near Kandahar in Afghanistan to watch a 10-year-old boy execute his father's murderer and a highway man have a hand and foot chopped off.
A soldier from the ruling Taliban militia held the AK-assault rifle for the boy and helped him fire three shots into the back and head of the convict while the spectators watched quietly.
"Mohammad Hashem, resident of Nesh district (Kandahar), who had recently killed Khaleq Dad, also from Nesh, has been sentenced to death," announced one Taliban official. "He is executed after the approval of Amir-ul Momenin [the head of the Taliban] by the victim's heir".
Minutes before, two surgeons in black uniforms and black masks surgically removed the right hand and left foot of Daud Shah, a man accused of highway robbery.
The Muslim fundamentalist movement, which rules most of Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, follows a strict interpretation of the Islamic Sharia law.
"You should take lessons and be grateful that you live under an Islamic government," an elderly cleric announced to the all-male onlookers through a loudspeaker he was carrying around his neck.