Afghan governor rejects force to free Koreans

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, July 24 (Reuters) Force will not be used to free 23 South Korean hostages held by Taliban rebels in Afghanistan and Afghan authorities are hopeful of a breakthrough later in the day, a provincial governor said today.

The Taliban have extended a deadline to 2000 hrs today, after which they said they would start killing the hostages if South Korea did not agree to withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan and Kabul did not free Taliban prisoners.

The Christian hostages were seized from a bus in Ghazni province on the main highway south from the capital.

The militants have threatened that any use of force by government troops surrounding the kidnappers would put the lives of the 18 women and five men at risk.

Talks with the Taliban through tribal elders were ongoing and the government was hopeful of progress by late Tuesday, Ghazni governor Mirajuddin Pathan told Reuters.

''We are hopeful that this issue to be finalised today through talks. By no means will military operations be used,'' he said.

The group holding the hostages had conflicting and confusing demands, but they included the withdrawal of Korean troops, he said.

Seoul has said its contingent of military engineers and medics will leave Afghanistan as planned at the end of this year.

Asked about the Taliban demand for the release of their prisoners, Pathan said the group had not come up with any list of names and could not say whether the Afghan government would give in.

Foreign ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen also spoke about progress. ''There has been progress made, but I can't give you any details, because it will jeopardise the lives of hostages and our ties with the rest of the world,'' he said.

A group of some 150 people demonstrated in the city of Ghazni on Tuesday demanding the safe release of the hostages.

RISE IN VIOLENCE Most of the Koreans are in their 20s and 30s, and include nurses and English teachers. A delegation of Korean diplomats has come to Afghanistan to aid the negotiations.

It is the largest abduction of foreigners in the Taliban campaign to oust the Afghan government and eject foreign troops.

The Koreans were seized a day after the Taliban kidnapped two Germans engineers and five Afghans from a neighbouring province southwest of Kabul.

One of the Germans has died, apparently killed by his captors, while the other and four Afghans are still in captivity. The fifth Afghan managed to escape.

The Taliban are demanding Berlin withdraws its 3,000 soldiers serving with NATO forces in the country.

The abductions coincide with a rise in violence in the past 18 months, the bloodiest period since US-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

The Taliban have kidnapped a number of foreigners and Afghans in recent years. The group has killed some of the foreign and Afghan hostages, but has released others in exchange for Taliban prisoners or the payment of ransom.

The Afghan government came under harsh criticism at home and abroad for freeing a group of Taliban in return for the release of an Italian journalist in March.

It had vowed never to give in to Taliban demands.

Neither Germany nor South Korea has shown any sign they might give in to Taliban demands and pull out their troops, nor has Kabul indicated this time that it will release Taliban prisoners.

But the kidnappings risk weakening public support for military involvement among the 37 NATO nations contributing forces to Afghanistan.

REUTERS SV KN1416