GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP)
The Taliban freed two South Korean female hostages in Afghanistan Monday in what they called a "gesture of goodwill" and allowed a captive German man to appeal for his life via phone.
Wearing Islamic headscarves and crying as they were bundled into a waiting vehicle, the pair were the first hostages freed since the militants captured 23 Christian aid workers on July 19. Two of the men were shot dead.
An official from the International Committee of the Red Cross said the two women -- named as Kim Gin-A, 32, and Kim Kyung-Ja, 37 -- were handed over to officials from South Korea.
"We feel fortunate that at least some of the hostages have been released," South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho Hee-Yong said in Seoul, where tearful family members welcomed the release.
"But we again urge the kidnappers to immediately release all our citizens they hold hostage," Cho told reporters.
The women were to be taken for a medical check-up at a South Korean military unit at Bagram military base north of Kabul before being flown home, said a South Korean foreign ministry official who asked not to be identified.
A spokesman for the South Korean embassy in Kabul could not say when they would leave the country. "They are staying at a safe place under our protection," he said on condition of anonymity. |
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Release deal The release of the two women came on the fourth day of negotiations at the office of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in the town of Ghazni, 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of Kabul.
Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said talks would continue on the fate of the remaining hostages. But he reiterated the militant group's demand for Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails to be released in return for the remaining captives.
"As we freed two sick female hostages as a gesture of goodwill, we hope that the Afghan government will also free our prisoners," Ahmadi told AFP.
The government of President Hamid Karzai has rejected any deal for the release of the hostages.
The Taliban abducted 23 South Koreans in volatile Ghazni on July 19. Two male hostages have been shot dead, and the insurgents have threatened to kill more if jailed Taliban prisoners are not released.
Ghazni province governor Mirajuddin Pattan demanded the Taliban "immediately and unconditionally free the rest of the hostages."
He said there had been no pay-off for the two freed Monday and there would none for the others. |
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German hostage Meanwhile a man who identified himself as a German national who was abducted a day before the South Koreans told AFP in a telephone interview arranged by the Taliban on Monday that his captors want to kill him.
The man, who gave his name as Rudolph Blechschmidt, said he was ill and appealed to the German government to help secure his freedom.
"The Taliban want to kill me," he said, speaking in broken English. "I live with Taliban in the mountains. I am in danger also, and I am very sick.
"I am very sorry because the Kabul government and the German embassy did not hear my voice and my crying from this mountain," he added.
It was not possible to independently confirm the man's identity.
A German identified in the media as 62-year-old engineer Rudolph Blechschmidt was captured July 18 with a German colleague in the province of Wardak, adjacent to Kabul.
The other German suffered circulatory failure a few days later and was then shot dead by his captors.
Four Afghans captured with the engineers are also believed to be held by the Taliban, who have issued demands for the release of prisoners in exchange for the German's life.
The German embassy said its officials had been in contact with the hostage's captors and confirmed demands had been made, but would give no further details. |
