Afghanistan, all the South Korean hostages freed by the Taliban

JANDA – They are all free, the South Korean hostages in the hands of the Taliban since 19 July. After the twelve released yesterday , the other seven were also released by the kidnappers.

The release took place in two phases. At first, in fact, the Taliban announced that they had released four of the South Korean volunteers, two men and two women, and handed them over to tribal leaders. Later, the International Committee of the Red Cross assured that the other three hostages, all women, were also delivered to the local tribal leader in the Afghan province of Ghazni.

“This drama is finally over.” With these words the governor of the Afghan province of Ghazni, Mahrajuddin Patan, officially confirmed that the Taliban freed all the South Korean hostages.

The release of South Korean volunteers was completed after Seoul pledged to withdraw its troops within the year from Afghanistan. The guerrillas had seized a group of 23 South Korean evangelical volunteers traveling between Kabul and Kandahar on 19 July. Two male hostages were killed in the first two weeks of the abduction.

August 30, 2007