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Taliban Says It Has Killed South Korean Hostage

July 25, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A spokesman for the Taliban says militants have killed one of 23 South Korean hostages abducted in Afghanistan.

In a telephone call with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousef Ahmadi said the hostage had been killed because the Afghan government had not met the militia's demand to release Taliban prisoners.

He said the Taliban had submitted a list of eight names for a prisoner swap, but that Kabul had not responded. He said more South Korean hostages will be killed if the government does not negotiate.

There was no immediate confirmation of the killing from Afghan authorities.

Reports Of Eight Freed

Meanwhile, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quotes an unnamed South Korean government official as saying eight of the hostages have been freed. South Korea's presidential office says it is not able to confirm that report.

Most of the hostages -- South Korean Christian aid workers -- are women.

They were abducted July 19 while returning to Kabul from volunteer work at a hospital in the southern province of Kandahar.

Earlier today, government negotiators said they were hopeful that talks with Taliban militants would lead to positive results.

The Afghan government has refused to release any Taliban prisoners in exchange for the hostages.

In March, the Italian and Afghan governments came under criticism after it freed five Taliban militants in exchange for an Italian reporter who had been kidnapped

Meanwhile, a German reporter kidnapped early today by the Taliban has reportedly been freed, along with his Afghan translator.

Shalizai Didar, governor of Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar, says the two were freed through the mediation of tribal elders and what he described as "other influential people" in the village of Sangar.

There was no independent confirmation that the hostages had been released.

A spokesman for the weekly "Stern" magazine expressed "great concern" earlier today about the disappearance of their reporter, Christoph Reuter, while on assignment in Afghanistan.

Fate Of Other Hostages

The Taliban said on July 24 that five other hostages -- one German and four Afghans -- are still alive.

Two German aid workers were kidnapped on July 18.

The bullet-ridden body of one of those hostages was discovered on July 22 after the Taliban announced they had executed him. But the German government says it is investigating whether the hostage was shot after he died of a heart attack.

(compiled from agency reports)

Copyright (c) 2007. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org