Mullah Dadullah Akhund commands the Taliban in southern Afghanistan and he is now trying to outdo slain Al-Qaeda leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in viciousness and cruelty, a media report said.
In one video, Dadullah is seen blasting away at an unseen target with heavy machine guns and another sequence shows him blessing young men being apparently sent to carry out suicide bombings in Afghan cities and military bases, Newsweek said.
But the most chilling video is the footage of his men slitting the throats of six Afghans, one by one, on suspicion of their being spies for the Americans.
The report said that this year's armed push by the Taliban has been the biggest and bloodiest since they lost Kabul in 2001, and Dadullah is believed to be spearheading it.
The surge in suicide bombings, school burnings and guerrilla ambushes has killed more than 100 Afghan civilians and at least 40 coalition soldiers, including 24 US troops.
For the first time in memory, Taliban guerrillas under Dadullah have succeeded in capturing government installations in the remote south, if only for brief periods, it said.
{{/usCountry}}For the first time in memory, Taliban guerrillas under Dadullah have succeeded in capturing government installations in the remote south, if only for brief periods, it said.
{{/usCountry}}Newsweek says some of those raids are documented in the new recruitment videos it obtained from an Afghan involved in making copies for distribution.
Villagers told the magazine that ever-increasing numbers of Taliban fighters are roaming the countryside, entering villages at night - sometimes even in broad daylight - and warning inhabitants not to cooperate with the Americans or their allies, on pain of death.
Dadullah's own men don't want to risk his anger.