தாலிபன் முஸ்லீம் பயங்கரவாதிகள் 23 கொரிய டாக்டர்களை பிணைக்கைதியாக கடத்தல்

ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் சிறையில் இருக்கும் தாலிபான்களை விடுவிக்காவிட்டால், தாங்கள் பிணைக்கைதிகளாக கடத்தி சிறை வைத்திருக்கும் கொரிய மருத்துவர்களை ஒவ்வொன்றாக கொல்லப்போகிறோம் என்று தாலிபான் மிரட்டியிருக்கிறார்கள்.

இந்த கொரியர்கள் கிறிஸ்துவ மிஷனரிகள் என்று தாலிபான் கூறுகிறது. இவர்கள் கிறிஸ்துவர்களே தவிர மிஷனரி வேலையில் ஈடுபடவில்லை என்று கொரியா கூறுகிறது.


Taliban Threatens to Kill 23 Koreans
By NOOR KHAN 07.23.07, 9:09 AM ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban threatened to begin killing 23 South Korean hostages Monday evening if the government doesn't free insurgents held in prison. The demands came as the U.S.-led coalition reported killing some 50 militants in southern Afghanistan's poppy-growing heartland.

Khail Mohammad Husseini, a lawmaker from Ghazni province, where the Koreans are being held, said provincial leaders tried to meet with the kidnappers Monday but that they didn't show. He said the Taliban increased their demands by telephone, saying all militant prisoners in Ghazni now had to be released.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the militia, disputed that report, saying the Taliban were still demanding the release of 23 prisoners.

"If the government won't accept these conditions, then it's difficult for the Taliban to provide security for these hostages, to provide health facilities and food," Ahmadi told The Associated Press by satellite phone. "The Taliban won't have any option but to kill the hostages."

Ahmadi said Sunday that the militants were giving the Afghan and South Korean governments until 7 p.m. (10:30 a.m. EDT) Monday to respond to their demands.

Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Khaliq said Afghanistan was not prepared to make a deal "against our national interest and our constitution," although he did not explicitly rule out freeing any prisoners.

President Hamid Karzai in March authorized the release of five Taliban prisoners in exchange for a kidnapped Italian reporter, but called the trade a one-time deal. Karzai was heavily criticized for the move by the United States and European nations, who felt it would encourage more kidnappings.

In the two-day battle in the Sangin district in Helmand province, the insurgents tried to shoot down a coalition aircraft and attack soldiers with a suicide car bomb, the coalition said. Coalition aircraft dropped four bombs and Afghan forces counted "more than four dozen" insurgents killed, it said.

The Sangin district chief, Eizatullah Khan, said a large group of Taliban had attacked a convoy Sunday, and the resulting battle left more than 30 militants dead and many wounded.

Coalition and Afghan forces "only engaged legitimate military and enemy targets to minimize the potential of Afghan casualties," said U.S. Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman. "We did this even as the insurgents tried to create some propaganda value by placing innocent civilians in harms way."

Civilian casualties have been a major problem for U.S. and NATO forces this year. Taliban militants often fight in populated areas or seek cover in civilian homes, leading to the deaths of ordinary Afghans. There were no immediate reports of civilian casualties during the battle, but those reports sometimes take a day or two to surface.

In Zabul province, Afghan police forces reported killing 14 "enemies" during a 12-hour battle Sunday, including a Taliban commander identified as Mohammad Hassan.

Afghan elders leading the hostage negotiations met with the kidnappers Sunday and reported that the Koreans were healthy, said Khwaja Mohammad Sidiqi, a local police chief in Ghazni district. The Koreans were kidnapped there Thursday while riding on a bus from Kabul to Kandahar on Afghanistan's major highway.

The Afghan military has the region surrounded in case the government decides the military should move in.

South Korea, meanwhile, banned its citizens from traveling to Afghanistan in the wake of the kidnappings, said Han Hye-jin, a Foreign Ministry official. A delegation of Korean officials met with Karzai on Sunday to discuss the crisis.

The South Korean hostages' church said it will suspend some of its volunteer work in Afghanistan. It also stressed that the kidnapped Koreans, which include 18 women, were not involved in any Christian missionary work, but only provided medical and other volunteer aid.

South Korea has about 200 troops serving with the 8,000-member coalition in Afghanistan, largely working on humanitarian projects. They are scheduled to leave Afghanistan at the end of 2007.


Associated Press writers Jason Straziuso in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Kwang-Tae Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.


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