Taliban Execute Pakistani Policemen on Video, Army SaysBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ISLAMABAD (AP) The Taliban released

d a video Monday showing fighters executing 16 P akistani tribal policemen in a hail of gunfire after they were captured in a cro ss-border raid from Afghanistan in June. The video shows the policemen lined up on a hillside with their hands tied behin d their backs, standing in front of armed Taliban fighters wearing scarves to hi de their faces. Both the policemen and the insurgents are wearing shalwar kameez , the baggy shirt and pants common in Pakistan and Afghanistan. One of the insurgents accused the men of executing six children from Pakistan's Swat Valley by firing squad. "They are the enemies of the religion of Allah," the man said of the police offi cers. He and several other fighters then opened fire on the policemen, who crumpled to the ground. Several of them were still moaning, and one fighter walked down the line shooting the policemen in the head. The video was posted on the LiveLeak video sharing website and included a note s aying the policemen were captured when the Taliban staged a cross-border raid fr om Afghanistan on June 1 in Pakistan's northwest Dir district. The video was fir st reported on by The Long War Journal website. Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas confirmed the contents of the vide o and said the Taliban fighters who executed the policemen came from the Swat Va lley, an area that used to be controlled by the militant group. The Pakistani mi litary launched a large offensive in Swat in 2009, but many of the fighters slip ped across the border into Afghanistan. Hundreds of Taliban fighters crossed into Upper Dir on June 1 from Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province. They killed at least 30 members of the security forces over three days of fighting before being forced back across the border by the mi litary, Abbas said. The Pakistani military has accused Afghan and NATO forces of not doing enough to target Taliban sanctuaries in Kunar, where the U.S. withdrew most of its forces over the last year. Afghanistan and the U.S. have level similar accusations against Pakistan, saying it must do more to target sanctuaries on its side of the border filled with mil itants who regularly launch attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan. The Afghan government has also accused Pakistan of firing hundreds of rockets in to Kunar over the past few months and killing at least 40 people an allegation den ied by Pakistan. ___ Associated Press writer Zarar Khan contributed to this report.