Ending a three-year moratorium on the death penalty, Afghanistan executed 15 prisoners by gunfire, including a man convicted of killing three foreign journalists during the U.S.-led invasion, the prisons chief announced.

On Oct. 8 the U.N. protested the executions.

The mass execution Oct. 7 took place according to Afghan law, which calls for condemned prisoners to be shot to death, said Abdul Salam Ismat, who oversees Afghanistan's prisons.

Crimes committed by those executed included murder, kidnapping and armed robbery.