By DPA
Kabul : Taliban Saturday claimed it had killed two kidnapped German engineers after the deadlines for meeting militants' demands expired.
A caller who identified himself as Qari Mohammad Yousef Ahmadi and claimed to be a Taliban spokesman told DPA that the two Germans were shot after the deadline for meeting their demands expired.
The German foreign ministry said they had no independent confirmation of the killings of their two kidnapped nationals.
Ahmadi said that the hostages were shot after German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the country's troops would not pull out of the country nor negotiate the release of the hostages.
"We waited and set the deadline, but Germany announced that they are not going to negotiate with us, then we ordered the deaths," Ahmadi said.
Taliban insurgents Wednesday kidnapped two German nationals along with their five Afghan colleagues in Maidan Wardak province.
They demanded German troops under the NATO peacekeeping forces be pulled out from Afghanistan and arrested Talibans be released for the freedom of the two Germans.
Regarding the fate of the Afghans abducted along with the two Germans, and also 18 South Koreans who were kidnapped by the group Thursday, Ahmadi said that the Taliban leadership would decide about them later Saturday.
No Afghan government officials were available Saturday to comment on the hostage situations.