Taliban say talks for SKorean hostages 'not going well'

KANDAHAR (AFP) - Taliban rebels in Afghanistan Monday warned that talks to secure the release of 23 South Korean hostages were "not going well" and reiterated their threat to kill them by sunset.

The Islamic militant group has set an extended deadline of 1430 GMT Monday for their demands to be met, including the release of 23 Taliban prisoners and the withdrawal of South Korean troops from Afghanistan.

"The talks are continuing, but it seems they are not going well," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location, challenging more upbeat reports from the Afghan government side.

"If they continue in this way, I think the hostages will be killed."

He blamed the problems on the fact that a delegation representing the Afghan government did not have the full authority to free the Taliban prisoners.

"We've demanded the release of 23 (Taliban) prisoners. But the delegation representing the government seems to be not as fully authorised as they say," Ahmadi said.

"The people representing the government in talks are saying 'We're not in a position to free the prisoners.' If this is the case I think the talks won't work," Ahmadi said.

The South Korean captives, mostly women in their 20s and 30s abducted last Thursday in southern Afghanistan, are the latest in a series of people to become victims of Iraq-style abductions by Afghan militants.

The body of one of the two Germans kidnapped a day earlier in the same region was found Sunday with several bullet wounds.

Afghan and German authorities have however said that a second German hostage was still alive despite Taliban claims that both were executed.