Two Stoned to Death in Kabul

Two foreign men, one a Swiss citizen, were stoned to death by unknown assailants on the crumbling terrace of a 19th century palace, authorities said Sunday.

Authorities released few details about the men but said they did not appear to be aid workers.

The stoning occurred Saturday evening at the Baghe Chihilsitun, an ancient garden not far from the center of Kabul. The garden is closed to the public and surrounded by high walls.

Mohammed Nabi, a police official, said a sports coach and some of his players called police after finding the bodies at dawn.

The two victims wore traditional Afghan garb -- baggy trousers, long shirts and woolen hats.

“At first we thought they were Afghans,” said Gen. Baba Jan, the security commander of Kabul, adding that the men, who appeared to be in their 30s, arrived in the capital after crossing the Pakistani border April 29.

“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” Jan said.

“They even had a bit of a beard. We don’t know exactly what they were doing here. They may have been drug smugglers or antique smugglers. They did not register themselves with the government or police.”

The nationality of the second victim was not yet known.

Police officers were checking the reservation lists of guesthouses in Kabul frequented by the international community.

Smugglers have been flocking here to cash in on Afghanistan’s poppy trade, which -- at about $2 billion a year -- is at a record high. The looting of Afghanistan’s antiquities is also flourishing, with smugglers using the same routes to Pakistan and Tajikistan favored by heroin traffickers.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killings, but some here said the method pointed at the nation’s ousted Taliban regime, which favored stoning as a punishment for crimes.

While violence blamed on Taliban militants plagues the south and east of the country, Kabul has enjoyed relative security thanks to the presence of 5,000 international soldiers patrolling its streets.

Police said the killings were carried out by at least three people. Sunday, a large pool of blood stained the marble terrace behind the palace, which was built for an Afghan prince.

Bloody footsteps led to the front of the building where the second man was stoned.

The two deaths came four days after two British citizens and their Afghan driver were killed in the eastern province of Nuristan while they were trying to help the United Nations organize voter registration in the run-up to September elections.

The men, whose names have not been released, worked for Global Risk Strategies, a British firm that employs ex-soldiers to provide security assessments to the U.N.