Taliban deadline passes amid fresh hostage talks

GHAZNI: Frantic negotiations continued for the release of 22 remaining South Korean hostages on Friday with no word on their fate after a deadline set by their Taliban captors expired.

A South Korean envoy was due to arrive in Kabul to seek an urgent hearing with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai and US-led forces following a desperate appeal by one of the captive Christian aid workers for help.

Taliban militants had set a midday on Friday (1300 IST) deadline to arrange the release of the remaining 22 Christian aid workers now in their ninth day of captivity. The leader of the group has already been killed.

The Islamic guerrillas are insisting on the release of eight Taliban prisoners held in Afghanistan in return for the aid workers' freedom, although Seoul has said the rebels' demands are "considerably fluid and not unified."

Neither officials nor the Taliban were available to comment on the expiry of the deadline, but police earlier said they were hopeful of a result from the ongoing talks.

"The negotiations continue for the release of the SouthKoreans. We are optimistic for a desired positive outcome," said Alishah Ahmadzai, the police chief of southern Ghazni province, where the group was kidnapped.

But authorities did not want to break President Hamid Karzai's pledge not to release more rebel prisoners after his government in March released five Taliban in exchange for an Italian reporter, Ahmadzai said.

"Our goal is to seek ways on how we can free the hostageswithout compromising our laws and regulations in regards with such cases," the police chief told.