By Xinhua
Kabul : No progress has been made in talks with the government to secure the release of 21 South Korean hostages, a Taliban spokesman said after the ninth deadline expired Wednesday noon.
Yousuf Ahmadi told Xinhua from an undisclosed place that no hostage was killed after the midday deadline expired.
Ahmadi said the negotiations had failed, adding the hostages were being kept in different and "safe" places.
He warned that if the Afghan government launched military operations, all hostages would be killed.
The spokesman said only the Taliban leadership could decide on the fate of the 21 hostages.
The militants kidnapped 23 South Koreans from Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway July 19, the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion.
The militants have executed two hostages – the male leader of the kidnapped group on July 25 and another whose bullet riddled body was found by the police Tuesday.
The Taliban militants have been insisting on the exchange of Taliban prisoners for the hostages. They had earlier set a new deadline till Wednesday afternoon to meet their demands.