Taliban kill second South Korean hostage

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban militia said it shot dead yesterday a South Korean hostage, among 23 captured two weeks ago, after its deadlines expired for the government to free prisoners.

The hostage executed in a remote part of the southern province of Ghazni was the second to be killed by the militants, who last week gunned down the leader of the Christian group -- a 42-year-old pastor.

"We set several deadlines and the Afghan government did not pay attention to our deadlines," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP after a tense day during which government negotiators admitted that talks had so far failed.

"Finally tonight at 8:30 (1600 GMT) we killed one of the Koreans named Sung Sin with AK-47 gunshots," Ahmadi said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

He did not specify the gender of the captive but his use of the Pashtu language suggested a man was killed. Sixteen of the hostages are women.

Ahmadi said the body had been left in Ghazni's Qarabagh area, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of Kabul, where the pastor's bullet-riddled body was also dumped. His body arrived in South Korea yesterday.

There was no independent confirmation of the latest killing, but Afghan officials said they were investigating unconfirmed intelligence reports that two of the hostages were dead.

Ahmadi insisted only one had been killed. The group had not set a new deadline in the standoff, he said. But, "If the government does not care about demands, we will start killing more."

Police were immediately began looking for the body. "Although it's night and dark, police forces have gone to the area and have started a search and investigation there," provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai told AFP.

The South Korean church group was captured July 19 in Qarabagh while travelling by bus on a key highway from the troubled southern city of Kandahar where they had officially been on an aid mission.

Violence linked to the Taliban's deepening insurgency, launched after the hardliners were driven from government in late 2001, has flared in Ghazni and other areas in the south this year despite the efforts of Afghan and international troops trying to quell the unrest.

The hardline Islamic militia said Sunday it would start killing the South Korean hostages on Monday unless the government freed Taliban men in its jails but negotiators said this was not up for discussion.

They called for two extra days to try to resolve the crisis.