Taliban, SKorea talks in sight over hostages

GHAZNI (AFP) - South Korean officials scrambled Friday to free 21 aid workers held by Afghanistan's Taliban, who said they had been told their key demand for the release of jailed fighters would be met.

With two other aid workers already shot dead and the rest under threat of death, Afghan provincial officials and the hardline Islamic militia said there were plans for a face-to-face meeting between the Taliban and a South Korean delegation.

Although not confirmed by the South Korean government, Seoul -- with the backing of the hostages' relatives -- has repeatedly stated its stiff opposition to any attempt to free them by military action.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Yousuf Ahmadi, said Thursday his group was ready to meet ambassador Kang Sung-Zu and had selected some of its representatives for talks.

A venue had still not been decided, he said Friday, after police said any meeting would be afforded high security.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited "informed sources" saying that with most of the hostages ill, including two women reportedly in serious condition, the talks were likely to be held later Friday.

The abduction highlights growing insecurity in Afghanistan, one of the key battlegrounds in the US-led "war on terror," nearly six years after the United States led the invasion that toppled the Taliban government.

A Taliban spokesman said late Thursday that it had been "assured" by South Korean officials that imprisoned fighters would be released in exchange for the Christian aid workers, who are members of a church in suburban Seoul.

This has been the key demand of the extremists, who kidnapped the group, composed mainly of women, on July 19 as they travelled in the country's insurgency-hit south.

"The Korean delegation has assured us they have spoken to the Americans and the Korean hostages will be freed in exchange with Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi said.

That could not be confirmed by the Afghan government, which has refused to release Taliban fighters for fear of encouraging kidnapping, and after severe criticism from the United States over a similar deal in March.

Seoul has been pressing the United States, a close ally, and Pakistan for help.

Eight senior South Korean legislators flew Thursday to Washington to lobby for support, while Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon met US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Manila.

Officials in Kabul have denied reports of a possible military operation to release the hostages, but a top US diplomat later spoke of the "potential" for action.

Richard Boucher, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, told reporters that "potential military pressures" against the Taliban were among the "many tools" available.

There were more calls Friday for the group to be released.

Two dozen Christian pastors and clergymen prayed outside the US embassy in Seoul, urging Washington to accept the Taliban's demands to secure their release.

"The US, which massacred civilians in the name of a war against terrorism. must assume responsibility for the current situation," a statement signed by 96 clergymen said.

A major Muslim organisation in Indonesia, Din Syamsuddin, on Friday labelled the kidnapping "absolutely unjustifiable" and "in violation of Islamic principles and teaching".

A 62-year-old German engineer is also being held, along with four Afghans, by separate militants who are said to have close links to the Taliban. He was seized with another German, who collapsed and was then shot dead.