Taliban fighters have executed 22 Afghan commandos in the town of Dawlat Abad in Faryab province as they surrendered after some clashes, a CNN investigation revealed.

The incident took place on June 16 in Faryab, a region close to Afghanistan’s border with Turkmenistan, several videos confirmed by the investigation showed.

The victims were members of an Afghan Special Forces unit. After a fierce battle to hold the town, the commandos had run out of ammunition and were surrounded by the Taliban fighters, witnesses said.

In one video, Taliban fighters said, “Surrender, commandos, surrender”, and several men emerged from a building, who were clearly unarmed.

Another 45-second-long video shows a bystander who can be heard saying in the local Pashto language, “Don’t shoot them, don’t shoot them, I beg you don’t shoot them”.