The Taliban has beheaded 15 men and two women in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing.
The bodies were found in a house near the Musa Qala district, about 75km north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
District Governor Nimatullah said: "The victims threw a late-night dance and music party when the Taliban attacked."
Men and women do not usually mingle in Afghanistan unless they are related and parties involving both genders together are rare and highly-secretive affairs.
Open displays of affection and the mixing of men and women are condemned by the Taliban.
During their five-year reign, which was toppled by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, the Taliban banned women from voting, from most work and from leaving their homes unaccompanied by their husband or a male relative.
Elsewhere in Helmand, ten Afghan soldiers have been killed in an attack by insurgents in the Washir district.
Two US soldiers were shot dead this morning by an Afghan army soldier in the east of the country.
