Taliban fighters may kill a few South Korean hostages if the
Afghan government fails to meet their demands before 2:00 PM (11:30
GMT) on Wednesday, a purported Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi,
told Xinhua through telephone from an undisclosed place.
Ahmadi also accused the Afghan government of negligence, saying
the government has overlooked the Taliban's demand for the release
of eight Taliban prisoners as made Tuesday.
The Taliban on Tuesday handed over a list of eight Taliban
prisoners and wanted to swap eight hostages for them.
Meanwhile, Wahidullah Mujadadi, who leads the Afghan government
's delegation in talks with the Taliban, told Xinhua the list is
under consideration by Afghan authorities.
Taliban spokesman Ahamdi said on Tuesday night that the
negotiations were under a very critical stage.
A Taliban commander, only known as Abdullah who held the
hostages, said the exchange of eight Taliban prisoners for eight
South Koreans would be the first step and that the two sides should
continue the talks only after this deal is completed.
The Taliban had twice extended the deadline for executing the
hostages, each for 24 hours, until 7:00 PM (14:30 GMT) Tuesday.
The 23 South Koreans were kidnapped by Taliban militants on a
road in the central Ghazni province on last Thursday afternoon.
Afghan and the US-led coalition forces have cordoned off a
suspected Taliban hideout in Qarabagh district of Ghazni to secure
the release of the hostages.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Ahmadi said militants would kill
all the 23 hostages if the troops recklessly carried out a
storm.
The Taliban also demanded the withdrawal of 200 South Korean
troops from this country. The South Korean government said the
soldiers would be pulled out at the end of 2007 as scheduled.
Taliban militants have carried out kidnappings in this country
time and time again over the past two years, and some hostages were
killed by the Taliban.
(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2007)
