Kabul- Taliban militants claimed Sunday to have publicly executed two suspected thieves in eastern Afghanistan after their Islamic court sentenced them to death.

The two men, Farid and Gul Nabi, were hanged in a public place in the Sabari district of south-eastern province of Khost on Sunday after they confessed to their crimes before the Taliban court, Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman said.

Besides robbery, the men were also accused of killing "several innocent people" in the district, he said, adding that the men had introduced themselves as members of the Taliban movement in the area.

District police chief, Daulat Khan Qayoumi, confirmed that the police forces found two dead bodies along with a torched vehicle in the area.

He said, according to villagers, the men were arrested by the militants on Saturday afternoon.

The Taliban enforced strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. They executed murderers, chopped off the hand of thieves and stoned to death married adulterers.

Around eight years after the ouster of their regime in a US-led military invasion, the militants still hold sway in several districts in the south, while they are present in hundreds of villages in the east. In the areas under their control, the militants still mete out strict Islamic justice. (dpa)