Third Korean Hostage’s Life in Jeopardy

The latest deadline set by the Taliban with regard to 21 South Koreans taken hostage on July 19 expired at 0730 GMT on Wednesday. The Taliban has already killed two members of the group and had said it would kill more unless the Afghan government released some of the group's prisoners by the allotted time.

Meanwhile, a district chief in Ghazni province, where the Koreans were abducted, has said the remaining hostages are alive and that the army had dropped leaflets in the area warning it would launch an operation to rescue them.

Khowja Seddiqi said: "The hostages are alive. The national army has dropped leaflets through helicopters telling people in several districts to evacuate their houses because it wants to launch an operation." The 23 South Koreans – 16 women and seven men – were kidnapped while on a bus on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. Earlier, South Koreans had urged the US to help free the remaining hostages as they mourned the death of a second captive

Local officials told the BBC there had been fighting between government and Taleban forces in Ghazni province south-west of the capital, Kabul.

Earlier, leaflets dropped from military helicopters had warned locals to flee.

The Taleban have killed two of the 23 held, threatening more deaths unless demands for prisoner releases are met.

The Korean Christian aid workers - 18 of them women - were seized on 19 July as they travelled on a bus down the Kabul to Kandahar highway.

'Routine operation'

The aid workers' leader, Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was the first to be shot dead by the militants. His death was reported over the weekend.

On Tuesday, South Korea confirmed that a second hostage had been killed - 29-year-old Shim Sung-min, a former IT worker.

The Taleban have repeatedly said that any use of force by the Afghan authorities would endanger the lives of the hostages.

Earlier, the defence ministry said the Afghan National Army had begun an operation in Ghazni, but insisted it was "routine" and not linked with the abductions.

Read More

The hostages – all volunteers for a church group - were seized two weeks ago. A purported Taliban spokesman had demanded the release of eight militant prisoners, including some held by the United States at Bagram.

South Korea said it would send a parliamentary delegation to the United States to seek cooperation in resolving the crisis, and relatives of the hostages pleaded for help at Washington's embassy in the South Korean capital.

Both the families and the South Korean government have appealed for an exception to the international practice of refusing to make concessions to hostage-takers.

The Afghan government, however, said releasing militant prisoners was "not an option." Afghanistan was criticized by the U.S. and other Western countries earlier this year when it released five Taliban prisoners to win the freedom of an Italian hostage.

The South Korean government reiterated its opposition to any military attempt to free the hostages. Family members have also expressed concern that a military operation would endanger the lives of the captives.