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Taliban militants last night beheaded an Afghan reporter kidnapped last month with an Italian journalist, after the Government refused to negotiate his release.

“We killed Ajmal (Naqshbandi) today at 3.05pm (9.35pm AEST) because the Government did not respond to our demands,” said Shohaabuddin Atal, spokesman for top Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah.

“He was beheaded.”

Atal said the journalist was beheaded in Helmand’s Hazar Joft district and the Taliban leaders would decide whether to return his body to his relatives or not.

His claims could not be verified independently.

Another Taliban spokesman had earlier said that the militants had set the deadline for Naqshbandi’s execution for tomorrow unless the Government agreed to release more jailed insurgents.

“Monday is the last deadline. He (Ajmal) will be killed unless the Government complies with our demands,” Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said by telephone.

When asked why he was killed today, Atal said: “Because the Government did not contact us and we knew they wouldn’t care for him so we killed him today.”

One of Naqshbandi’s relatives said that the Taliban last contacted them yesterday.

“They called us and said we should pressurise the Government. Their tone this morning was very nasty,” the desperate relative said but asked not to be named.

“We heard media reports that he has been killed. No Taliban has contacted us about his death directly,” he said.

The Taliban are waging a deadly insurgency that includes suicide attacks and kidnappings of foreign journalists and aid workers, and their local colleagues, after being ousted from power five years ago by US-led troops.

Naqshbandi was captured in southern Helmand province on March 4 with Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who was freed around two weeks later in a controversial exchange for five Taliban prisoners. Their Afghan driver was beheaded.

President Hamid Karzai said this week no more hostage deals with Taliban would be made, saying the one he made to free Mastrogiacomo was an “extraordinary” situation.

He said the deal was made because the Italian Government – which has 1800 troops in Afghanistan – could have collapsed.

La Repubblica newspaper, for which Naqshbandi worked as a interpreter, voiced “dismay” over the unconfirmed execution. The UN and US also denounced the killing.

“This barbaric killing reminds us of why the US and NATO are in Afghanistan in the first place: To help the good people of that country defeat the Taliban extremists and their al-Qaeda allies,” said US national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Taliban are also holding two French nationals and three Afghan colleagues after abducting them on Wednesday in the southwestern province of Nimroz.

The province’s governor and police chief have said they were likely to have been moved to Helmand where Naqshbandi was killed. Helmand adjoins Nimroz.

Another Taliban spokesman said overnight that they would decide the fate of the French nationals once Naqshbandi’s case was over. Atal said the Taliban will decide the fate of French nationals in the “coming days”.

The rebels have not yet made any demand in return for the release of the French aid workers, who were working for the Terre d’Enfance (A World for Our Children).

The Taliban had its most deadliest year in 2006 since its ousting in 2001 with hundreds of people killed, mostly militants but also local and foreign soldiers and civilians.