Taliban threatens to kill 23 Korean hostages:
| Taliban fighters threatened to execute 23 South Korean Christians held captive in southern Afghanistan yesterday, as United States and Afghan forces prepared for a possible rescue operation.
Afghan officials said that troops had sealed off an area of the southern province of Ghazni, where they believe the hostages are being held. The Koreans were seized from a bus on the main Kabul to Kandahar highway last Thursday in the largest single abduction of foreigners since 2001. |
Original post time: July 23, 2007 @ 08:04
Update: Late Tuesday morning (24 July, Pacific Time):
| The Taliban said talks over the fate of 23 South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan were at a crucial point Tuesday after the latest deadline for their lives passed.
The Islamic militants gave a list of eight jailed rebels to the government whom it wants released, and said it would free the same number of the Korean Christian aid workers in exchange. |
Update 2: Wednesday, July 25 — 07:45 Pacific
Taliban say kill Korean hostage, set new deadline:
| Taliban kidnappers killed one of its 23 South Koreans hostages and will kill the rest if their demands are not met by 2030 GMT (4.30 pm ET) on Wednesday, a Taliban spokesman said.
The Taliban had complained the Afghan government had failed to release any Taliban prisoners as the kidnappers had demanded and as, according to the rebel spokesman, Korean negotiators had assured them Kabul would do. |
Update 3: Sunday 29 July at 07:46 Pacific
| Taliban leaders said on Sunday their fighters would kill 22 remaining South Korean hostages if the Afghan government did not release rebel prisoners by a new deadline of 0730 GMT on Monday, a spokesman said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said the deadline had been set by the Taliban leadership council, headed by elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, giving the threat added weight. The kidnappers killed the leader of the Korean group on Wednesday, but several further deadlines have passed without the rebels carrying out their threat to kill the remaining hostages. |
some family members
Update 4: Monday 30 July @ 4:27 pm Pacific
I just saw this story (which is two or three hours old by now):
| Taliban kidnappers shot dead a male South Korean hostage on Monday, a spokesman for the group said, accusing the Afghan government of not listening to rebel demands for the release of Taliban prisoners. |
Update 5: Saturday 11 August @ 7:40 am Pacific
Taliban ‘optimistic’ as SKorean hostage talks end:
| A Taliban negotiator Saturday said 21 South Korean hostages could be freed as early as “today or tomorrow” but only if the Afghan government accepted its demand to free militant prisoners.
The offer came as spokesman for the kidnappers said they were optimistic about talks aimed at releasing the group of Christian aid workers captured on the main highway between Kabul and Kandahar more than three weeks ago. Kabul has steadfastly rejected previous offers of a prisoner swap with the Al-Qaeda-backed insurgents and its position was reiterated by President Hamid Karzai’s office Saturday. |
If the kidnappers and murderers are optimistic, how should the captives and their families and friends be?
Taliban representative Qari Bashir (L) addresses the media as Mullah Nasrullah looks on.
Two others for whom you may pray!
Update 6: Monday 13 August @ 7:13 am Pacific
Good News: Taliban frees two South Korean women hostages
| Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan freed two South Korean women hostages on Monday, officials in Seoul said, and they have been handed over to the Red Crescent.
Reuters witnesses said the two women arrived in the village of Arzoo, near the city of Ghazni, in a saloon car driven by two tribal elders. “We saw them getting into a Red Crescent vehicle,” one of the witnesses said. “They were able to walk and appeared to be well, but they were very emotional and were crying.” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that two Korean women were freed. A Taliban spokesman said the decision to free the pair had been made by the Taliban leadership council, headed by Mullah Mohammad Omar, as a gesture of goodwill towards the Korean people and South Korean diplomats negotiating for the hostages’ release. The pair are the first of the hostages to be released by the Taliban kidnappers since the group of 23 Korean church volunteers were abducted from a bus in Ghazni province on the main road south from the capital Kabul more than three weeks ago. |
A gesture of good will necesitated by their own initial actions of ill will towards the Korean people.
Update 7: — Monday 20 August at 12:31 pm Pacific
Press TV is reporting:
| Taliban have signaled growing impatience with South Korean officials as sources close to the talks said they have turned down a cash ransom.
The kidnappers accused Korean hostage negotiators of not doing enough to persuade the Afghan government to accept their demands to release Taliban prisoners. “The Korean nation must understand that if their hostages are harmed their government will be responsible, because it doesn’t do much to gain their release,” a purported Taliban statement said. “Their efforts are not sufficient,” according to the statement, read over the telephone to AFP by a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed. […] “Our negotiating team were in telephone contact with the South Korean delegation today (Monday). The Koreans are asking for more time,” he said. “The Koreans are telling us that ‘we’re trying to persuade the Kabul administration and the US government to accept the Taliban demands’ — but it seems they can’t,” he added. |
Update 8: — Tuesday 21 August at 11:22 am (Pacific)
In Qatar, The Gulf Times is reporting this morning:
| Three South Koreans held in Afghanistan by Taliban militants have gone on hunger strike to demand that all 19 remaining hostages be held together rather than in separate groups, South Korean state news agency Yonhap reported yesterday.
Citing an informed source speaking on condition of anonymity, Yonhap said one male and two female hostages went on hunger strike from Sunday morning. The hostages are reported to have been split into as many as five groups and are being detained at different locations in Ghazni province in central Afghanistan, where they were taken hostage on July 19. |
As much as I may sympathize with and ache for (and pray for???) the hostages, I think this act of desperation is misguided. After all, they’re dealing with the Taliban.