GHAZNI: Afghanistan s Taliban freed two South Korean hostages Monday in what they called a gesture of goodwill towards talks to free the remaining 19 captured nearly a month ago.
Wearing Muslim headscarves and crying as they were bundled into a waiting vehicle, the pair were the first hostages freed since the militants captured 23 Christian aid workers on July 19. Two others were shot dead.
An official from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the two women were handed over to officials from South Korea, which named them as Kim Gina, 32, and Kim Kyung-Ja, 37.
We feel fortunate that at least some of the hostages have been released, South Korean Foreign Ministry Spokesman Cho Hee-Yong said in Seoul.
But we again urge the kidnappers to immediately release all our citizens they hold hostage, Cho told reporters.
A woman who identified herself as one of the two released hostages told AFP by telephone before the handover that she was okay.
Asked if she was one of the South Koreans, she said, Yes, Korean. We are two, we are okay.
The ICRC Deputy Head of Delegation in Afghanistan, Franz Rauchenstein, said the women were handed to South Korean officials at the offices of the Afghan Red Crescent Society.
The release of the two women came on day four of negotiations at the office of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, which is aligned with the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the town of Ghazni.
Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said talks would continue on the fate of the remaining hostages. But he reiterated the militant group s demand for Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails to be released in return for the remaining captives.
As we freed two sick female hostages as a gesture of goodwill, we hope that the Afghan government will also free our prisoners, Ahmadi told AFP.
The government of President Hamid Karzai has rejected any deal for the release of the hostages.
The Taliban abducted 23 South Koreans in volatile Ghazni on July 19. Two male hostages have been shot dead, and the insurgents have threatened to kill more if jailed Taliban prisoners are not released.
Meanwhile a man who identified himself as a German national, who was abducted a day before the South Koreans, told AFP in a telephone interview arranged by the Taliban on Monday that his captors want to kill him.
The man, who gave his name as Rudolph Blechschmidt, said he was ill and appealed to the German government to help secure his freedom.
The Taliban want to kill me, he said, speaking in broken English.
I live with Taliban in the mountains. I am in danger also, and I am very sick.
I am very sorry because the Kabul government and the German embassy did not hear my voice and my crying from this mountain, he said.
It was not possible to independently confirm the man s identity.
A German identified in the media as 62-year-old engineer Rudolph Blechschmidt was captured July 18 with a German colleague in the province of Wardak, adjacent to Kabul.
The other German suffered circulatory failure a few days later and was then shot dead by his captors.
Four Afghans captured with the engineers are also believed to be held by the Taliban, who have issued demands for the release of prisoners in exchange for the German s life.
The German embassy said its officials had been in contact with the hostage s captors and confirmed demands had been made, but would give no further details. Agence-France Presse
