APW19980220.0333 NEWS NEWSWIRE The public amputation of the right hand of a teenage shoplifter drew a crowd of 10,000 in Kabul. Soldiers belonging to the religious Taliban militia dragged Hameedullah, barely 18 years old, from the back of an ambulance on Thursday. The youth fell to the cold, wet ground of a high school football field and sobbed. A mullah _ an Islamic cleric _ condemned Hameedullah's crime of theft over a loudspeaker. He had apparently stolen some items from a small shop in Kabul's Karte Parwan district. The authorities didn't say what he had stolen or what it was worth. A guard stood next to Hameedullah, while a doctor crouched to inject anesthetic. Within two minutes Hameedullah slumped to the ground, witnesses said. Using a knife, the doctor amputated his right hand. After the operation, the soldiers moved quickly, picking up a bleeding Hameedullah and carrying him into the ambulance. As it roared off to a nearby hospital, the mullah yelled God is Great and extolled the virtues of the Taliban and its brand of Islamic law. In Afghanistan, Taliban troops rule roughly 85 percent of the country and their northern-based opposition the remaining 15 percent. The Taliban have imposed a harsh version of Islamic law, which calls for the death penalty for people convicted of murder, treason or rape, amputation of limbs for anyone found guilty of theft and public lashing for a variety of smaller crimes.