AfghanistanÂ’s Taliban have threatened to kill more of the 21 South Korean hostages after a Wednesday deadline expired. The extremist group repeated that it was ready to kill more members of the aid mission seized here two weeks ago. Meanwhile, military choppers dropped leaflets in the province, including the Qarabagh district where the South Koreans were captured, asking residents to leave ahead of a planned operation but officials denied this would be a bid to free the captives. The operation was a routine exercise due in the coming weeks, the defence ministry said. Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said earlier there had been no progress in the negotiations. One of the main negotiators, parliamentarian Mahmood Gailani, said tribal elders fronting the talks had asked for 48 more hours.
A top US official, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, and EgyptÂ’s largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile joined international calls for the release of the Christians.
The bodies of four Afghan judges from Paktika were also found on Wednesday. “We killed them because they worked for the government,” Ahmadi said.
In other incidents, a gun battle with militants in the east left a NATO soldier injured while a clash in the south killed 10 suspected Taliban militants, officials said. Four rebels were also shot dead in Ghazni province and a soldier from the 35,000-strong NATO-led force here to assist the Afghan government was killed in fighting in the northeast, security officials said.