KABUL, Afghanistan —

       Taliban fighters tortured and killed members of an ethnic minority in Afghanistan after recently overrunning their village, Amnesty International said, fueling fears that the group will again impose a brutal rule.

       The Taliban has sought to project a more moderate image and pledged to restore security and forgive those who fought them in the 20 years since a U.S.-led invasion. Ahead of Friday prayers, Taliban leaders urged imams to use sermons to appeal for unity and to counter “negative propaganda” about them.

       But many Afghans are skeptical, and the Amnesty International report provided more evidence that undercut the Taliban’s claims it has changed.

       The rights group said its researchers spoke to eyewitnesses in Ghazni province who recounted how the Taliban killed nine Hazara men in the village of Mundarakht on July 4-6. It said six of the men were shot, and three were tortured to death.

       Advertisement

       The brutality of the killings was “a reminder of the Taliban’s past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring,” said Agnes Callamard, the head of Amnesty International.

       The group warned that many more killings may have gone unreported because the Taliban has cut cellphone services in many areas to prevent images from being published.

       World & Nation

       In Afghanistan, minority Hazaras are being killed at school, at play, even at birth

       After the collapse of the Taliban 20 years ago, Afghan Hazaras embraced hopes for a new democracy. Now they are being targeted in violent attacks.

       The Hazaras are largely Shiite Muslim and the subject of widespread discrimination and persecution in Afghanistan, including by the Sunni-dominated Taliban.

       Separately, Reporters Without Borders expressed alarm at the news that Taliban fighters killed the family member of an Afghan journalist working for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle on Wednesday.

       “Sadly, this confirms our worst fears,” said Katja Gloger of the press freedom group’s German section. “The brutal action of the Taliban shows that the lives of independent media workers in Afghanistan are in acute danger.”

       Meanwhile, a Norway-based private intelligence group that provides information to the United Nations said it has evidence the Taliban has rounded up Afghans on a blacklist of people that the group believes worked in key roles with the previous Afghan administration or with U.S.-led forces.

       Newsletter

       Must-read stories from the L.A. Times

       Get all the day's most vital news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning.

       Enter email address

       Sign Me Up

       You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

       Advertisement

       In an email to the Associated Press, Christian Nellemann, executive director of the RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, said the organization knew about several threat letters sent to Afghans, including a man who was taken from his Kabul apartment this week by the Taliban. A report by the center that was obtained by the AP included a copy of one of the letters.

       “We had access to hard copies of concrete letters issued and stamped by the Taliban Military Commission to this effect,” he said.

       The AP could not independently verify the letters or the Norwegian center’s allegations.

       Many Afghans fear a return to the Taliban’s harsh rule in the late 1990s, when the group largely confined women to their homes, banned television and music, chopped off the hands of suspected thieves and held public executions.