KUNDUZ (Reuters) – A man and woman were publicly stoned to death by the Taliban in Afghanistan's once-peaceful north over an alleged love affair, a provincial government official said on Monday.

If confirmed, Sunday's executions in Kunduz province would be the first of their kind by the Taliban in the area and follow a call last week by Afghan clerics for a return to sharia and capital punishments carried out under the Islamic law.
They also come a week after officials said the militants publicly flogged and executed a woman accused of adultery in northwestern Badghis province.
""The two were stoned to death in a bazaar of Dasht-e Archi district on the accusation of committing the act of adultery,"" said Mohammad Omar, the governor of Kunduz.
The Taliban arrested the two, who were each engaged to be married to other people, at the request of their families after they tried to elope, said district police chief Hameed Agha.
The hardliners, who drew international criticism for such punishments when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, have distanced themselves from the incident in Badghis.