Taliban threatens to kill South Korean missionaries

Afghan negotiators were last night locked in talks with the Taliban to release 23 South Korean Christian missionaries that the fighters have taken hostage and threatened to kill unless a deal is reachedtoday.

A Taliban spokesman said that the deadline for negotiations had been extended until 7pm local time (3.30pm BST) to give the South Korean and Afghan governments more time to respond to its demands. The militant group has demanded that the Afghan government release a number of Taliban prisoners. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, told the Associated Press: "If the government of Afghanistan and the government of Korea are asking for the release of their hostages, then we believe the Taliban also have the right to ask for the release of their prisoners ..."

Meanwhile, there is confusion about the fate of two Germans also seized by the Taliban. The fighters say they had killed the two hostages although the Afghan government says it believes one of them is still alive. The other hostage died after suffering a heart attack, possibly brought on by the kidnap.

"The information we have is that one of these two who were kidnapped died of a heart attack," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Sultan Ahmad Baheen. "The second hostage is alive, and we are... trying our best to get him released."

The South Koreans were kidnapped at gunpoint from a bus in Ghazni Province's Qarabagh district on Thursday as they were travelling on the main route between Kabul and Kandahar, a road long considered dangerous. It is the largest abduction of foreigners since the Taliban regime fell in 2001.

The police chief in Ghazni Province, Ali Shah Ahmadzai, said Afghan officials and elders had met with the kidnappers yesterday to try to find a solution. US and Afghan troops also moved into the region in case they were asked to rescue the hostages. "We have surrounded the area but are working very carefully. We don't want them to be killed," he said.

Whether the Afghan government would agree to the Taliban's demand for a prisoner exchange is unclear. In March, President Hamid Karzai authorised the release of five Taliban prisoners in exchange for a kidnapped Italian reporter but he became the focus of widespread international criticism for doing so.

Mr Ahmadi claimed the two Germans and five Afghans kidnapped along with them were shotdead because Germany had refused to withdraw its 3,000 troops from Afghanistan as demanded by the Taliban. The seven were kidnapped on Wednesday in the southern province of Wardak while working on a dam project.

The South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, urged the Taliban to "send our people home quickly and safely". South Korea's Yonhap news agency said most of the hostages were members of the Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, south of the capital, Seoul. A year ago, South Korean Christians were ordered to leave Afghanistan amid claims they were working as missionaries in the conservative Islamic nation.