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Taliban 'will kill more hostages'
31/07/2007 07:27 - (SA)
Ghazni, Afghanistan - Police on Tuesday discovered the body of a second South Korean hostage slain by the Taliban in central Afghanistan, officials said.
The man's body, wearing Western clothing and glasses, was found on the side of the road at daybreak in the village of Arizo Kalley in Andar District, some 10km west of Ghazni city, said Abdul Rahim Deciwal, the chief administrator in the area.
A purported Taliban spokesperson claimed the hard-line militia killed the South Korean hostage on Monday evening because the Afghan government failed to release imprisoned insurgents.
The victim, who appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s, was wearing white trousers and flip-flops, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
Police lifted the body from the side of the road, and put it on a blanket and into the back of a waiting police truck. The victim's face was covered in blood, as was the ground beneath him.
Governments 'lying and cheating'
A purported Taliban spokesperson, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said senior Taliban leaders decided to kill the captive because the government had not met Taliban demands to trade prisoners for the Christian volunteers, who were in their 13th day of captivity on Tuesday.
"The Kabul and Korean governments are lying and cheating. They did not meet their promise of releasing Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said by phone from an undisclosed location.
"The Taliban warns the government if the Afghan government won't release Taliban prisoners, then at any time the Taliban could kill another Korean hostage."
The Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans riding on a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway on July 19, the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion.
The Taliban has set several deadlines for the South Koreans' lives. Last Wednesday the insurgents killed their first hostage, a male leader of the group.
- AP
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