Taliban free five more S Korean hostages

GHAZNI: The Taliban released five more South Korean hostages in Afghanistan on Wednesday, hours after three others were freed, Red Cross officials said.   

"I confirm we have received five more hostages," International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative Greg Muller said.    

AFP journalists at the handover site, outside the small town of Ghazni south of Kabul, saw the group bundled into ICRC vehicles.   

A Taliban commander, Mullah Abdullah, said his group had earlier handed over four women and a man to a tribal elder who delivered them to the Red Cross.   

The elder, Mohammad Zahir, handed his mobile phone to a woman who said she was one of the four women.   

"I'm happy, very happy," she said in Afghanistan's Dari language.   

Their release came a day after the Taliban announced it would free all 19 hostages in the wake of South Korea's pledge to withdraw its small military force from Afghanistan and ban missionary groups from the country.   

The hostage-takers said on Tuesday it would take several days to free all the captives as they were dispersed in several provinces.