Two foreigners stoned to death in Afghanistan

KABUL: Two foreigners, one of them a Swiss national, were stabbed and stoned to death here, government officials said on Sunday.

"There were various injuries on the head caused by stones and bricks, and there are also stab injuries. And on one body, a rope seemed to have been tightened on the neck," said Ihsanullah Alimi, a doctor involved in the post-mortem. Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said: "One of them, was a 30-year-old Swiss passport-holder while nationality of the other is not known."

Deputy Chief of Kabul Police Khalil Aminzada said the two had come from Pakistan nine days ago and were killed last night. Nick Downie of the Afghan NGO Security Organisation said the victims were white Caucasian males.

A UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida de Silva said the victims were not believed to be UN personnel. Rudi Hager, the head of a Swiss development agency which doubles as a diplomatic mission, said, "It was probably a criminal case," and suspected the Swiss victim was a tourist. A Swiss embassy official said their diplomats were seeking more details from the authorities.