By Xinhua
Kabul : Taliban fighters have threatened to kill all the South Korean hostages if 23 of their prisoners were not released before 7 p.m. (14.30 GMT) Sunday.
A purported spokesman of the militia, Yousuf Ahmadi Saturday said the hostages would be executed once the deadline expires, but did not mention the identities of the prisoners demanded to be freed.
Militants kidnapped 23 South Koreans Thursday afternoon from the central Ghazni province.
Ahmadi from an undisclosed place said by phone that some hostages spoke so fluent Afghan language that Taliban fighters had regarded them as Afghans.
The militant group also demanded the withdrawal of 200 South Korean troops from Afghanistan, a demand which has already been turned down by the Korean government saying the soldiers would be pulled out at the end of 2007 as scheduled.
Meanwhile, Ahmadi claimed two Germans abducted along with five Afghans in the central Wardak province Wednesday have been executed as both the German and Afghan governments did not meet the Taliban's demands for the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan and the release of some of their leaders from prisons.
However, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen said one of the German hostages was still alive and the other had died of a heart attack.