KANDAHAR, April 1: Afghan authorities have suspended a regional police commander for alleged involvement in last week’s killing of 17 men, some of them Pakistanis, a governor said on Saturday.

Abdul Razaq, border commander of Kandahar, was being questioned about the March 21 killings, governor of southern province Asadullah Khalid said. He refused to say if Razaq had been arrested.

Pakistani authorities have said the men were visiting Afghanistan for the country’s new year celebrations when they were shot dead near the border.

“The men were criminals. The way they were killed, though, was illegal,” the governor insisted.

Razaq had previously claimed that the 17 were Taliban loyalists.

A government official in Chaman had accused Razaq of ordering the killings because of “personal enmity”.

Pakistan officials have said 16 men were killed, some of them with their hands tied behind their backs. — AFP