KABUL- Militants from Islamic State have beheaded three brothers, allworking in the medical profession, in Afghanistan’s eastern province ofNangarhar, an official said on Monday.

Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, the mainstronghold of Islamic State in Afghanistan, said the brothers were killedin Chaparhar district on Saturday night.

The eldest brother Nisar Tareliwal, 27, was a doctor at a private clinic,the middle brother Nayeem, 24, was working as a vaccine campaigner and theyoungest Abdul Wahab, 19, was a medical student.

Khogyani said the father of the victims, a doctor, was beheaded last yearby the Islamic State, which has acquired a reputation for brutality in theprovince, beheading prisoners on a number of occasions.

In a separate incident the Islamic State kidnapped 11 farmers in Rodatdistrict of Nangarhar province, although they later released two of them.

There was no claim by Islamic State about the two incidents.

Nangarhar, on the porous border with Pakistan, has become a stronghold forIslamic State, generally known as Daesh in Afghanistan, which has grown tobecome one of the country’s most dangerous militant groups since itappeared around the start of 2015.

Lal Mohammed Durrani, deputy chairman of the provincial council inNangarhar, said the abduction took place when the farmers were working inpoppy fields.

The process to harvest poppy crop has kicked off in provinces acrossAfghanistan, the world’s top opium producer.

Last year the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said output of opiummade from poppy seeds in Afghanistan, the world’s main source of heroin,stood at around 9,000 metric tons.

The illicit drug has fuelled insecurity, violence and insurgency inAfghanistan for several decades. – Agencies