By DPA
Seoul/Kabul : Declaring “this drama is over,” Ghazni province governor Mahrajuddin Patan confirmed Thursday an earlier announcement by Taliban rebels that they had released the remaining seven South Korean hostages they had been holding for six weeks.
“All have been released and this drama is over,” Mehrajuddin Patan, governor of Ghazni province told DPA.
His statement came after a spokesman for the radical Islamic group had said they had released the final seven hostages.
Three men and four women were handed over to tribal elders, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahamdi told DPA.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency also reported the release, saying the seven had been handed over to a tribal elder. They were among a group of 23 who were abducted on July 19.
A spokesman for President Roh Moo Hyun’s office said earlier that once all 19 aid workers were released they would be flown home at the weekend via Kabul and Dubai to Seoul.
Thursday’s release came after 12 hostages – 10 women and two men – were set free Wednesday in three separate groups in three different districts of Ghazni province.
That development came a day after negotiators for South Korea and members of the radical Islamic group said an agreement had been reached on the release of the Christian aid workers.
The South Korean government said it had agreed to withdraw its 200 soldiers from Afghanistan – which had already been decided before the kidnappings – by year’s end. It said it had also promised to send no more “Christian missionaries” into the country.
The Taliban said Seoul had also agreed to order all missionaries back home by Friday.
A total of 23 South Koreans were kidnapped July 19 as they were driving from Kabul to Kandahar.
Two men were put to death after the expiry of Taliban-set deadlines for the Afghan authorities to meet their demands, and two ill female hostages were released on Aug 13 in what the militants called a “goodwill gesture.”