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Hope remained last night for 22 South Korean Christian volunteers held hostage in Afghanistan after the earlier death of their leader.
"They are safe and alive," Taleban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said last night from an unknown location. The Afghan Government, he said, "has given us hope for a peaceful settlement of the issue".
The Taleban threatened to kill hostages and gave the Afghan Government until 8.30am yesterday to agree to exchange the group for imprisoned rebels. The deadline passed without word from the kidnappers until Yousuf spoke.
Earlier, General Ali Shah Ahmadzai, provincial police chief of Ghazni province where the 22 remaining hostages are being held, said the Government was keen to resume negotiations with the kidnappers.
He confirmed they also believed the hostages were safe. "If the Taleban had killed any of them I would have known. We are trying to contact the Taleban for resumption of talks."
The rebels had dumped the bullet-ridden body of Bae Hyung Kyu near where the group was seized last week.
South Korea's Government strongly condemned Bae's murder, calling it an unforgivable atrocity.
The Taleban accused the Government and South Korean negotiators of failing to act in good faith after Kabul rejected demands for eight named rebels to be freed from prison.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and ministers have remained silent throughout the latest hostage ordeal, but Seoul said it would soon dispatch a special envoy to step up coordination with Kabul.
The kidnappings have made travel outside major cities risky for the thousands of foreign aid workers and United Nations staff in Afghanistan. In the latest violence, more than 50 insurgents were killed in a 12-hour battle with Nato troops in the southern province of Helmand.
- REUTERS
