ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--Afghan militiamen beheaded four Islamic State (ISIS) militants near the Pakistani border on Sunday, showing the severed heads to a country-wide condemnation.

A news report by AFP said that the militiamen were loyal to Afhanistan's deputy parliament speaker Haji Zahir.

"If they behead you, behead your son, do you expect us to cook sweets for them?" the firebrand politician told reporters.

Zahir said that the beheadings, in Nangarhar province, were a retaliation against ISIS for beheading four of his own fighters.

"Sweets are not distributed during war. People die." Zahir said, according to AFP.

The display of the severed heads by the side of a main road brought condemnations from across Afghanistan, including from Haji Ghaleb, a district chief who said, "If they were criminals then they should have been punished by the judiciary, not by a kangaroo court,"

"This barbaric incident should not have happened," he added.

In a statement last week the Taliban leadership threatened to fight ISIS and prevent the group from gaining a foothold in Afghanistan.

ISIS however is believed to have built a following in Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar province where many disaffected Taliban fighters have joined the group.

Rudaw