Kabul, Afghanistan ? Two policemen were beheaded and their bodies dumped in a desert after being kidnapped from their homes in the heartland of Afghanistan’s opium poppy region, an official said Saturday.

The violence is the latest to hit southern Helmand province since Afghan security forces launched a massive campaign earlier this week to eradicate hundreds of acres of opium poppies, which are used to make heroin.

The two policemen were abducted late Friday from their houses on the outskirts of Lashkargah, said Ghulam Muhiddin, the provincial administrator. Their decapitated bodies were discovered outside the city Saturday, he said.