Taliban extend hostage deadline

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban kidnappers of 23 Korean hostages on Sunday extended the deadline for the South Korean government to agree to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 24 hours to 10:30 a.m. EDT on Monday.

In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would not give in to the demands of the kidnappers -- who also seized two German engineers and killed at least one of them -- to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

"We will not give in to blackmail", she told ARD public television.

The 23 hostages belong to the "Saemmul Church" in Bundang, a city outside South Korea's capital, Seoul. Most of them are in their 20s and 30s, and include nurses and English teachers.

"The Taliban have extended the deadline by another 24 hours," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters by telephone from an unknown location.

"The Islamic emirate is keen to resolve this issue peacefully and this is extension is aimed at persuading the Korean government to put pressure on Kabul to accept our demands," he said.

South Korea has so far said it will withdraw its 200 military engineers and medics at the end of this year as planned.

A South Korean government delegation was in the Afghan capital Kabul holding talks with government officials.

Yousuf said the kidnappers had extended the deadline "as a sign of honor for the Korean delegation".

While tribal elders tried to mediate between the militants and government negotiators, Afghan forces had surrounded the group of some 70 kidnappers in the Qarabagh area of Ghazni province, south of Kabul, a Western security analyst said.

"Afghan forces have surrounded the location of the kidnappers," he said. "They have no way to escape."

Afghan forces were poised to strike.

"They are awaiting orders to assault suspected locations," the Defence Ministry said in a statement. "The operation will be launched if Defence Ministry authorities deem it necessary."

Taliban spokesmen Yousuf said fighters were holding the captives at different locations. "Any use of force will have dire consequences for the hostages, he said.

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