Taliban behead boy, 10, and his friend, 16, 'for spying' after catching them scavenging for food for their families...

The Taliban was accused of beheading two boys for spying in southern Afghanistan yesterday. (M) Afghan officials said the boys, aged 10 and 16, were kidnapped by Taliban fighters while scavenging for food in rubbish bins near the police headquarters in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city and a key base for Western forces.

The boys are suspected to have accepted food from the police in exchange for information and to have been killed for colluding with police, Kandahar provincial government office said last night.

In separate incident, it was claimed, the boys were questioned about spying and their heads were then cut off.

Officials condemned the act as inhumane and un-Islamic, claiming the boys had merely been going through bins to find unused and expired packages of food that had been thrown away by Western forces, an event common in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi denied the allegations, insisting the group had not beheaded any children in the area.

News first emerged of the 10-year-old's death and later yesterday the Kandahar provincial government office confirmed that a second boy had also been beheaded. Both bodies were recovered in Kandahar's Zhari district.

The 10-year-old boy was very poor and was known to take food going spare from the police to take home to his family, officials said.

Kandahar governor Dr Toryalay Wessa instructed Afghan security forces and police to hunt down and catch the militants responsible for the killing 'with whatever casualties it takes and at whatever price.' In 2012 the Taliban were accused of beheading a 12-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl in south and east Afghanistan - the group denied responsibility in both those cases.

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have been known to behead targets in the past, but have always denied attacking children in this way.

Afghans officials believe the Taliban carried out the executions as a 'warning' to other youngsters not to co-operate with the Coalition forces at a time when they are launching fresh attacks in Afghan cities on Western and Afghan forces as part of their Spring offensive which has so far seen a series of high profile attacks.

The news of the beheadings drew a strong response on social media - with hundreds taking to Twitter re-tweeting the news - and outrage.

The beheadings were revealed hours after fierce gun battles raged near the airport in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Taliban fighters armed with guns and explosives clashed with security forces after taking over a building near the airport in the Afghan capital of Kabul. The fighting ended with all seven attackers dead, Afghan officials said.

The Taliban said the attack was intended to target Americans in Kabul International Airport, one part of which is used by military forces and another by civilians, the officials said.

In eastern Afghanistan, a service member with NATO's International Security Assistance Force died in a bombing yesterday, the latest in a string of coalition deaths. Eighteen coalition soldiers have died in June so far. At least nine of them are Americans.