Afghan police have discovered the bodies of 18 people, believed to have been taxi drivers, buried under a house after being killed for their cars, a senior police official said on Thursday. Six arrested car thieves led police to the house in the eastern city of Jalalabad, said General Abdul Razaq, head of the national security prosecutor's office in the city. "They have identified another house as well, but we haven't searched that yet," Razaq said. "The total number of dead bodies could reach 25."

Some of the bodies discovered had been there for up to two years, he said. Afghanistan is awash with weapons after two decades of war which impoverished the country.

Copyright Reuters, 2005