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Some hostages 'not doing well'
02/08/2007 12:10 - (SA)
Mohammad Yaqob
Ghazni, Afghanistan - A direct meeting between a South Korean delegation and Taliban rebels holding 21 hostages was being planned on Thursday, a governor said, in a new bid to save the group captured 15 days ago.
All 21 South Koreans, most of whom were said to be ill, were still alive on Thursday a day after another deadline expired for the government to agree to free Taliban prisoners from its jails, a demand that has been rejected.
"We have not harmed or killed any of them so far but some of them are not doing well," Taliban spokesperson Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.
The Islamic hardliners have already killed two of the hostages execution-style, provoking international outrage.
Direct talks
Ahmadi had said late on Wednesday the threat to kill more had not been carried out after the expiry of a new deadline because the chance of direct talks with a South Korean delegation could open a "new phase of negotiations".
The governor of the southern province of Ghazni, where the Christian group was captured July 19 while returning to Kabul from an aid mission, said the Taliban had agreed to meet a South Korean delegation.
However a spokesperson for the delegation said this had not been officially confirmed and Ahmadi could not be immediately reached for comment.
"A South Korean diplomatic delegation is to meet the Taliban for face-to-face talks to look for ways and solutions to free the South Korean nationals," governor Mirajuddin Pattan told AFP.
"This request from the Koreans has been accepted by the Taliban and now we are working on how, where and when this meeting could take place," he said.
Seoul was meanwhile seeking US help on Thursday to end the hostage ordeal, which has traumatised the country. Eight senior legislators were leaving for Washington to request American co-operation.
- AFP
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