108 Afghanis Killed, South Korea Pledges to Withdraw its Forces Before Year End and Stop Korean Christian Missionary Activities in Afghanistan

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names. Comments are in parentheses.

In the past, many of the casualties were Afghani civilians despite claims they were Taliban fighters.

Taliban fighters on Wednesday released eight of 19 South Korean captives they promised to free under a deal struck with the South Korean government to resolve a nearly six-week hostage crisis.

To secure the release of the church workers, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made well before the hostage crisis began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Seoul also said it would prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the country, something it already promised to do (accepting the two Taliban conditions).

The Tuesday deal was made in face-to-face talks between Taliban negotiators and South Korean diplomats in the central Afghan city of Ghazni. The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which were facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Elsewhere, U.S.-led NATO coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 100 alleged Taliban fighters, and a suicide bomber blew himself next to an army patrol, killing two Afghan soldiers and four civilians, officials said.

The Taliban fighters were killed Tuesday in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan after the joint force was ambushed by a large group of Taliban fighters who tried to overrun their position, a statement from the coalition said.

The force called in airstrikes, which killed more than 100 alleged Taliban fighters, the (US-led NATO) coalition said late Tuesday. The casualty figures could not be independently verified because of the remoteness of the area.

The clash left one Afghan soldier dead and three wounded. Three NATO coalition soldiers were also wounded, it said. The nationality of the coalition soldiers was not disclosed, but the vast majority of foreign troops in the area are American.

Associated Press writer Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul and Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul contributed to this report.

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