Taliban threaten SKorean hostages as deadline passes

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - The Taliban threatened to kill more South Korean hostages after another deadline expired yesterday, as helicopters dropped leaflets in the area where the group was captured warning of a military operation.

"The hostages are still alive," a spokesman for the hardline movement, Yousuf Ahmadi, told AFP by telephone hours after the noon (0730 GMT) deadline passed.

"The leadership council of the Taliban is in the process of making a decision," he said, clarifying afterwards that they were considering whether more of the captives should be killed.

The extremist group has already shot dead two men from a 23-member aid mission seized in the southern province of Ghazni two weeks ago.

Ahmadi said talks with government negotiators had continued Wednesday but there was "not a good result."

The insurgent movement is demanding the release of at least eight of its men from Afghan jails, which authorities have so far rejected.

The spokesman said none of the surviving hostages had yet been killed as there was talk South Korean negotiators wanted to meet directly with the Taliban. "We are waiting for that delegation to open a new phase of negotiations," he said.

Military choppers earlier dropped leaflets in Ghazni, including the Qarabagh district where the South Korean Christians were captured, asking residents to leave ahead of a planned operation.

The defence ministry denied however this would be a bid to free the captives, saying it was a routine exercise planned months ago and "has no links to the South Korean hostages issue."

A South Korean embassy official told AFP: "We have no information about any operation. Before launching any operation, we must be informed."

Ghazni police chief Alishah Ahmadzai also said there was no plan to use troops to extract the hostages.

"Security forces are in the area. They have been in a state of emergency since the crisis started. But there is no military operation in our plan."

A special South Korean envoy was quoted by Pajhwok Afghan News agency saying his government opposed military action.

Envoy Baek Jong-chun said, ahead of leaving Afghanistan yesterday, his government "would like to emphasise once again that the safety of the Korean hostages will be a matter of the highest priority."

With tensions mounting and Qarabagh said to have been surrounded by soldiers for days, the Taliban's Ahmadi said fighters were "ready to answer with force and if there's any pressure on us, the lives of the hostages will be in danger."

A top US official, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, and Egypt's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile joined international calls for the hostages' release.

Adding to concern about their chances, the bullet-riddled bodies of four Afghan court officials were found Wednesday near where the bloodied corpse of one of the foreigners was dumped this week.

"We killed them because they worked for the government," Ahmadi said.