A convicted murderer was shot dead Tuesday in a grounds in provincial Afghanistan, officials said, the second public execution since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. “He was executed in public in the town of Sultan Ghazi Baba, centre of Laghman province, so that he could suffer and become a lesson for others,” said a statement from provincial information officers. Although public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, the only other one they have carried out since returning to power was in December last year in Farah province. There have been regular public floggings for other crimes, however, including theft, adultery and alcohol consumption. Officials named the murderer as “Ajmal, son of Naseem”, adding he had killed five people.