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Deadline for hostages passes
25/07/2007 08:41 - (SA)
Kandahar - The threatened deadline for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages passed with no resolution on Tuesday, as air strikes and clashes in southern Afghanistan killed more than 75 militants in a new Nato offensive.
Korean negotiators, accompanied by Afghan elders and clerics, met the kidnappers in person in Ghazni province on Tuesday, according to a provincial official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The official said the militants were demanding monetary payment for the release of the hostages. Previously, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesperson, said the militants wanted 23 Taliban prisoners released in exchange for the hostages' lives.
Ahmadi late on Tuesday said the negotiations were in the "final stage" but he provided no other details.
Villagers in Ghazni meanwhile held a rally demanding the release of the Korean hostages release, said Mohammad Zaman, the deputy provincial police chief. Some carried banners and shouted slogans. An AP Television News reporter saw 100 to 150 villagers demonstrating.
The South Korean hostages, including 18 women, were kidnapped on Thursday while riding on a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare.
Ahmadi also said the militants are still holding one German and four Afghan hostages, despite his claims on Saturday that those hostages had been shot and killed.
Over 75 militants killed
Meanwhile, air strikes and clashes in southern Afghanistan killed more than 75 militants in a new Nato offensive.
In southern Helmand province, Afghan and US-led coalition troops called in air strikes after being ambushed by militants on Monday, the US-led coalition said.
At least 36 insurgents were killed in the fighting, but no Afghan or coalition troops were hurt, the coalition said on Tuesday.
In neighbouring Uruzgan province, police clashed for three days with militants blocking the road leading to Kandahar province, leaving 26 militants and two policemen dead.
Nato-led and Afghan army troops joined the battle on Tuesday, reopening the road for civilian traffic, he said.
Another 13 suspected militants were killed in Kandahar province, the Defence Ministry said.
- AP
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