The Taliban authorities have recovered the bodies from the suburb of the north Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif and promised to punish those responsible for the killings, a Taliban spokesman said in Kandahar.

Tension between Tehran and Kabul are expected to further heighten following the recovery of the bodies of diplomats, thought to have been held captive by Talibans.

The movement's senior spokesman Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakkal rejected the Iranian allegations that the Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had ordered the killings of the diplomats. He said, ``It was the action of individuals and not a policy of Taliban.''

``We will punish those who are responsible for the killings of the Iranian diplomats,'' Mutawakkal said in a statement released from the Taliban headquarters inKandahar.

The Afghan intelligence `Khad' had prepared a report about the incident, which had been submitted to ``Amirul Momineen'', (leader of the faithfuls) Mullah Omar.

Earlier today, Iran asserted that it would soon launch major military war games on its border with Afghanistan while Talibans were reported to be advancing towards the Afghan town of Bamiyan, west of Kabul, reports said.

The moves and confirmation about the killings of the diplomats were expected to raise the temperature in an already tense stand-off between Iran, which backs the Afghan opposition, and the Talibans which control all but 10 per cent of Afghanistan.

Ten Iranian diplomats and one journalist of official IRNA news agency were missing since the Taliban captured Mazar-e-Sharif on August 8 leading to a stand-off between Tehran and the Talibans.

Iran had earlier accused Talibans of holding the diplomats, who were in the Iranian consulate in Mazar, as captives and demanded their release.

Tehran had also not ruledout the possiblity of using force to get its diplomats released and had already started an unprecedented military exercise along the Afghan western border.

Talibans have been denying the charge and offered to release other Iranian detainees. It had already released five of them following Islamabad's mediation a week ago, but Tehran had been insisting on the release of its diplomats.