HERAT (AFP) - Afghanistans extremist Taliban publicly executed a young couple who had tried to elope, a provincial governor said Tuesday. The pair were shot dead on Monday in front of a mosque in the southwestern province of Nimroz, an area where the Taliban have influence. It followed a decree by local religious leaders that they should be put to death, governor Ghulam Dastageer Azad told AFP. He branded their execution an insult to Islam. An unmarried young boy and an unmarried girl who loved each other and wanted to get married had eloped because their families would not approve the marriage, Azad said. The pair, both adults, were discovered by Taliban militants and returned to their village in Khash Rod district where the extremists are active. Three Taliban mullahs brought them to the local mosque and they passed a fatwa that they must be killed. They were shot and killed in front of the mosque in public, the governor said. Azad said some reports said that the families of the young couple might be associated with the Taliban. The Taliban could not be immediately reached for comment.