Taliban kidnappers will release two of the 21 remaining South Koreans held hostage in Afghanistan at 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EDT) on Monday, a Taliban spokesman said.
"We are releasing two sick Korean hostages at 4 o'clock today. We are going to hand them over between Ghazni and Zabul provinces to the Red Cross," the spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Yousuf said the decision to free the pair had been made by the Taliban leadership council, headed by Muhallah Mohammad Omar, as a gesture of goodwill towards the Korean people and South Korean diplomats negotiating for the hostages' release.
The Taliban have killed two male hostages and threatened to kill the remaining 21, 18 of them women, unless a similar number of Taliban prisoners are freed in exchange.
"We are releasing two sick Korean hostages at 4 o'clock today. We are going to hand them over between Ghazni and Zabul provinces to the Red Cross," the spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Yousuf said the decision to free the pair had been made by the Taliban leadership council, headed by Muhallah Mohammad Omar, as a gesture of goodwill towards the Korean people and South Korean diplomats negotiating for the hostages' release.
The Taliban have killed two male hostages and threatened to kill the remaining 21, 18 of them women, unless a similar number of Taliban prisoners are freed in exchange.
No comments:
Post a Comment