Difficult negotiations to free 21 South Korean hostages resumed Wednesday with a noon (0730 GMT) deadline looming and Seoul desperate to avoid more Taliban murders of the kidnapped aid workers.
The bullet-riddled bodies of four Afghan court officials were meanwhile found Wednesday in Ghazni province, where they were captured by the Taliban two weeks ago -- around the same time and place the Koreans were also abducted.
"We killed them because they worked for the government," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.
The Islamic militia has already killed two of the Koreans -- members of a church who had been on an aid mission in the risky southern region -- and threatened to kill more if there is no progress in talks with the government.
The extremists are demanding that at least eight Taliban prisoners are freed from Afghan jails, but the government has rejected the demand after being condemned internationally for a similar deal in March.
The latest deadline was set by the Taliban on Monday after the murder of a 29-year-old hostage when two earlier deadlines expired.
"If our demands are not met by then, we will start killing the rest of the South Koreans," Ahmadi said. The 42-year-old pastor who led the group was killed last week.
Talks resumed Wednesday, and there was no progress overnight, said Mahmood Gailani, a parliamentarian who is a member of a government-appointed negotiating team. (*)
Copyright © 2007 ANTARA
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