15 Afghanis, 2 Germans Killed, 18 South Koreans Kidnapped, Taliban Wants Hostage Swap

Taliban Purportedly Want Hostage Swap

By NOOR KHAN Associated Press Writer

Jul 21, 2007, 1:10 PM EDT

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) --

A Taliban spokesman claimed Saturday that Taliban had killed two German and five Afghan hostages but the Afghan government partly denied that, saying one German had died of a heart attack and the other was still alive.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, also said the Taliban fighters were willing to release 23 South Korean hostages in exchange for imprisoned Taliban fighters. He said the Afghan and South Korean governments had until Sunday evening to agree to the exchange of 23 Taliban militants or the Korean hostages would be killed.

He claimed the Germans and Afghans were shot to death because Germany did not announce the withdrawal of 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 German and Afghan governments didn't meet our conditions," Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. He offered no proof of the killings and said the Taliban would give information about the bodies later.

The Afghan government said it had contradictory information.

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

He did not reveal the source of his information, or saying anything about the Afghan hostages.

Ahmadi initially said there were 18 South Korean hostages, but later revised that figure to 23. He said several Koreans spoke the Afghan languages Dari and Pashtu and had been mistaken for Afghans. South Korea's president said there were 23 hostages.

Ahmadi also initially said the kidnapped Koreans, including 18 women, would be killed if South Korea didn't withdraw its 200 troops, which it had already planned to do by the end of this year. Late Saturday he changed those demands.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun urged the Taliban to "send our people home quickly and safely." Roh also spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and asked for cooperation to quickly win the release of the South Koreans, Roh's office said.

South Korea "is maintaining contact" with the Taliban to try to win their freedom, a senior Korean official said on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, himself a South Korean, called Karzai and expressed "grave concern" over the abductions, the U.N. said. Ban called on the Afghan government to "do its utmost" to secure the hostages' release.

The South Koreans were kidnapped at gunpoint from a bus in Ghazni province's Qarabagh district on Thursday as they traveled on the main highway from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. It was the largest-scale abduction of foreigners since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

It was unclear what the Koreans were doing in Afghanistan. The Yonhap news agency reported that most of the hostages were members of the Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, just south of the South Korean capital, Seoul. A year ago, hundreds of South Korean Christians were ordered to leave Afghanistan amid rumors they were proselytizing in the deeply conservative Islamic nation.

Ahmadi warned the Afghan government and U.S. and NATO forces not to try to rescue the hostages, or they would be killed. The provincial police chief in Ghazni province said his forces were working "carefully" to not trigger any retaliatory killings.

"We have surrounded the area but are working very carefully. We don't want them to be killed," said Ali Shah Ahmadzai.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jeager, meanwhile, said a crisis team was pursuing "every clue" and was in close contact with the Afghan government.

Germany has 3,000 soldiers in NATO's International Security Assistance Force who are stationed in the mostly peaceful northern part of Afghanistan. South Korea's 200 soldiers in the U.S.-led coalition largely work on humanitarian projects, such as medical assistance and reconstruction.

In South Korea, family members of kidnapped victims urged the government to accept Taliban demands, noting Seoul had already decided to bring home its soldiers by the end of this year.

"We hope that the immediate withdrawal (of troops) is made," Cha Sung-min, a relative of one of the hostages, told reporters.

South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon reiterated Seoul's plans to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year as scheduled, hoping to appease the militants.

"The government is in preparations to implement its plan," he said.

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Associated Press reporter Kwang-tae Kim contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.

10 Afghanis Killed, 2 Germans, 18 South Koreans Kidnapped

18 South Koreans Abducted in Afghanistan

By AMIR SHAH Associated Press Writer

Jul 20, 2007, 9:35 AM EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) --

Taliban gunmen abducted at least 18 members of a South Korean church group in southern Afghanistan, and a purported spokesman for the Afghani militia said Friday it will question them about their activities in Afghanistan before deciding their fate.

The Koreans were seized Thursday in Ghazni province as they were traveling by bus from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar, said Ali Shah Ahmadzai, the provincial police chief.

"We are investigating, who are they, what are they doing in Afghanistan," Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, told The Associated Press by satellite telephone. "After our investigation, the Taliban higher authorities will make a decision about their fate. Right now they are safe and sound."

The South Koreans' bus driver, released late Thursday, said there were 18 women and five men on the bus, Ahmadzai said. The Taliban spokesman said 15 women and three men were seized. The discrepancy could not be immediately clarified.

The abductions came a day after two Germans and five of Afghan colleagues working on a dam project were kidnapped in central Wardak province. Ahmadi said the Taliban were also holding the two Germans, and threatened to kill them if Germany did not pull out its troops serving in the NATO-led force in the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, two separate bombings in southern Afghanistan left five civilians dead, while a Taliban ambush killed six police officers, officials said.

- A car bomb targeting a U.S.-led coalition convoy in Helmand province's Sangin district killed two civilians and wounded two coalition troops, said Sgt. 1st Class Dean Welch, a coalition spokesman.

- A mine exploded under a civilian car in Kandahar province's Zhari district, killing three civilians in it, said Sayed Afghan Saqib, Kandahar's police chief.

- In Helmand's Marja district, Taliban fighters ambushed police Thursday, leaving six officers dead and two others wounded, said Muhammad Hussein, the provincial police chief.

An official at the Presbyterian church confirmed 20 of its members were in Afghanistan for volunteer work. The group left South Korea on July 13 and was to return on July 23, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk to the media.

Germany's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said it was "aware of the statement by the so-called spokesman of the Taliban."

"At the same time, we have a conflicting statement from a Taliban spokesman from yesterday. He indicated that the kidnapped Germans are not in the hands of the Taliban," said Martin Jaeger, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry. "(Our) crisis team continues to work toward a swift release of the two kidnapped men."

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Associated Press writer Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

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