Two children beheaded in Afghanistan

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KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Two children in Afghanistan, ages 7 and 12, were beheaded by Taliban militants in separate incidents reported Friday, officials said.

One was a 12-year-old boy in southern Kandahar province, whose killing was retaliation for an older brother's service in the Afghan national police force, the Afghan news agency Khaama Press said Friday.

A Taliban spokesman denied the incident but a spokesman for Kandahar provincial Gov. Jawid Faisal said the boy's body was found on a roadside in Panjwai district.

In a separate incident a 7-year-old girl in eastern Kapisa province was found beheaded and with her legs cut off, Voice of America reported Friday, adding that authorities are unclear of the circumstances behind the killing.

The incidents come after Taliban militants earlier beheaded a 14-year-old Afghan boy in Zherai district following espionage charges, Faisal's spokesman said. Seventeen Afghan civilians were beheaded Sunday during a party in Helmand province, which officials blamed on a long-running feud between two Taliban leaders.