KABUL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A teenager boy was hanged by Taliban insurgents on Saturday morning in Sangin district of southern Afghan Helmand province for alleged "spying" activities, local police said.

    Helmand provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told Xinhua that the Taliban claiming the child was spying for the Afghan government and foreign troops had killed the innocent boy by hanging.

    "Actually the poor boy has nothing to do with the government and foreign troops," Andiwal said.

    The tragedy occurred in Sangin district, neighboring the lawless Musa Qala district, which the Afghan National Army and NATO forces have launched an offensive to retake from the Taliban militants.

    Taliban has been ruling Musa Qala since February 2007 when British troops pulled out the district under a deal struck with the tribal elders.

    Rising militancy-related violence has left over 6,000 people killed this year in war-torn Afghanistan.