By DPA
Kabul : Afghan and international forces surrounded a village in southern Afghanistan Sunday where some 23 South Koreans are kept by suspected Taliban, who demanded release of their prisoners in exchange.
Militants stopped a bus on Kabul-Kandahar highway Thursday and kidnapped 23 South Koreans – 18 women and five men – in Qara Bagh district of southern Ghazni province.
They set a deadline of 7 p.m. Sunday for the release of 23 Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails in exchange for the South Korean hostages.
"Afghan army, police, intelligence agents and international forces surrounded a village in Qara Bagh district and are waiting for order to raid the area," Defence Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi said.
He said forces on the ground were also waiting for a delegation from South Korea that was expected to arrive in Afghanistan to help the government in handling the hostage crisis.
"We know where the hostages are kept, but since the kidnappers warned they will kill them if we attack, we are waiting for the order," Azimi said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi said on Friday that the insurgents would give the list of the prisoners they want freed once the governments of Afghanistan and South Korea had accepted their demands.
A provincial official who withheld his name said contact with the kidnappers had been established through the local tribal leaders in the area.
The Taliban had demanded that some 200 South Korean soldiers leave the country by Saturday, but they later said that according to South Korea's plans, they could pull out their forces by the end of the year.
There are at least 210 South Korean soldiers posted in Afghanistan, as well as about 200 South Koreans working for non-governmental organisations or for other purposes.