Taliban Kidnap S. Koreans

[Wounded Healer]

Taliban Kidnap S. Korean Christians, Issues Ultimatum

By Fisnik Abrashi
Associated Press
Saturday, July 21, 2007; Page A14

KABUL, July 20 -- Taliban fighters kidnapped at least 18 South Korean Christians from a bus Thursday, and a man purporting to speak for the Taliban said later that they would be killed within 24 hours unless South Korea withdrew its 200 troops from Afghanistan.

In the largest abduction of foreigners since the Taliban was driven from power in 2001, several dozen fighters kidnapped the South Koreans at gunpoint on a highway in Ghazni province on Thursday, said Ali Shah Ahmadzai, the provincial police chief.

South Korean leaders "have got until tomorrow [Saturday] at noon to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, or otherwise we will kill the 18 Koreans," Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, told the Associated Press by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location. "Right now they are safe and sound."

[South Korea said Saturday it plans to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year as scheduled. Foreign Minister Song Min Soon told reporters that 23 South Koreans were kidnapped and indicated that they were safe.]

Outmatched by foreign troops, Taliban fighters often resort to kidnapping civilians caught traveling on treacherous roads, particularly in the country's south, where the insurgency is raging. The tactic hurts President Hamid Karzai's government by discouraging foreigners involved in reconstruction projects from venturing into remote areas where their help is most needed.

The abductions came a day after two Germans and five Afghan colleagues working on a dam project were kidnapped in central Wardak province. Ahmadi said the Taliban was also holding the two Germans, and he threatened that they would be killed unless Germany withdrew its 3,000 troops from a NATO-led force by noon Saturday -- the same deadline he gave South Korea.

A year ago, hundreds of South Korean Christians were ordered to leave Afghanistan amid rumors they were proselytizing in the deeply conservative Islamic nation. A member of that group promised they would return to the country in smaller groups, but denied the accusations of spreading Christianity.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that most of the people taken hostage Thursday were members of the Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, just south of the South Korean capital, Seoul.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...d=sec-religion

[Wounded Healer]

KABUL, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Taliban fighters would kill 23 South Korean hostages if Afghan authorities fail to release 23 Taliban prisoners before 70 p.m. (1430 GMT) on Sunday, a purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said on Saturday.

Ahmadi said from an undisclosed place by telephone that the hostages would be executed once the deadline expires, but he did not mention the identities of the prisoners demanded to be freed.

The 23 South Koreans were kidnapped by Taliban militants on a road in the central Ghazni province on Thursday afternoon.

Ahmadi, who said on Friday that only 18 South Korean nationals were abducted, said that some hostages spoke so fluent Afghan language that Taliban fighters had regarded them as Afghans.

The Taliban also demanded the withdrawal of 200 South Korean troops from Afghanistan. The South Korean government said the soldiers would be pulled out at the end of 2007 as scheduled.

Meanwhile, two Germans were abducted together with five Afghansin the central Wardak province on Wednesday.

Ahmadi claimed all seven hostages were executed on Saturday afternoon as both the German and Afghan governments did not meet the Taliban's demands for the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan and the release of some Taliban prisoners.

However, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen told Xinhua that one German hostage was still alive and the other had died of a heart attack.

Taliban militants have carried out kidnappings in Afghanistan over the past two years frequently, and killed some hostages.

http://english.china.com/zh_cn/news/.../14235588.html