Afghan police found the body of a second South Korean hostage early
Tuesday, hours after a video emerged depicting seven other hostages
huddling together.
The blood-soaked body was discovered on the side of a road in the
Arizo Kalley village in central Afghanistan, just a few kilometres from
the spot where 23 South Korean Christian aid workers were kidnapped 12
days ago, said administration official Abdul Rahim Deciwal.
The slain hostage has not been identified. His death comes a week
after kidnappers shot and killed hostage Bae Hyung-kyu, a 42-year-old
pastor.
Monday evening, a purported Taliban spokesman announced that the
kidnappers had shot the second hostage. Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the
Taliban decided to kill the second man because the Afghan government
has not released Taliban prisoners.
"The Kabul and Korean governments are lying and cheating. They did
not meet their promise of releasing Taliban prisoners," said Ahmadi,
who claims to speak for the Taliban.
"The Taliban warns the government if the Afghan government won't
release Taliban prisoners then at any time the Taliban could kill
another Korean hostage."
As news of the latest killing broke, Al-Jazeera broadcast a new
video of the hostages. The silent, shaky video footage showed the seven
women cowering together, but it didn't indicate when or where the
footage was taken.
'Please send my children back'
In South Korea, relatives of the hostages gathered in a church in
Bundang, near Seoul, to watch 24-hour news broadcasts and console each
other. Seo Jung-bae, whose son and daughter are among the captives,
said his children went to Afghanistan to help Afghans in need.
"Please, please send my children back so I can hold them in my
arms," Seo Jung-bae told reporters, in the hopes that the kidnappers
would be made aware of his pleas.
"Our families are the same. Your family is precious, so is mine."
Earlier Monday, militants extended their deadline to Wednesday after
again threatening to kill the hostages unless the government releases
some Taliban fighters.
The militants agreed to the two-day extension to allow time for
additional negotiations over the Taliban prisoners' release, said
Pathan.
The extension came after Ahmadi set and let two deadlines pass on
Monday — the latest expiring at 4 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET) —
without any word on the fate of the hostages.
The hostages, most of them women, have been under threat
of execution in four previous deadlines announced and
subsequently extended by Ahmadi.
Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal, who also heads a government
team negotiating with the captors, told Reuters earlier that the
hostages were alive.
"The talks and dialogue are going on to persuade the Taliban to
release the hostages … and no incident has happened [to the
hostages]," Mangal said.
Ahmadi has said the militant group had provided a list of 23
insurgent prisoners it wants released by the Monday deadline in
exchange for the Koreans.
"We might kill one, we might kill two, we might kill four, or we
might kill all of the hostages at once," Ahmadi told the Associated
Press from an unknown location via satellite phone on Sunday. "It might
be women, it might be men."
The South Korean aid workers were abducted on July 19, taken from a bus in Ghazni province.
The hostages are being held in small groups at different locations. There are reports that some of the hostages are sick.
Canadian military monitors situation
Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, the outgoing commander of the Canadian troops
in Afghanistan, told CBC News that the Canadian military is monitoring
the hostage situation, but is not directly involved in working towards
the captives' release.
He said the kidnapping is evidence that the Taliban are struggling to make gains in Afghanistan.
"The Taliban are less and less able to operate freely," Grant said.
"They are relying on more desperate tactics — roadside bombings,
suicide attacks and, unfortunately, kidnappings."
On Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials
tried to shame the Taliban into releasing the female captives, an
attempt to tap into a tradition of cultural hospitality and chivalry.
In his first comments since the hostages were abducted, Karzai
criticized the Taliban's kidnapping of "foreign guests," especially
women, as contrary to the tenets of Islam.
Karzai faced heavy criticism when he approved the release of five
Taliban prisoners earlier this year to free an Italian journalist held
hostage. He subsequently vowed not to repeat such a deal.
