Afghan officials on Wednesday denied reports in South Korean state media that eight of the 23 South Korean hostages abducted by Taliban militants had been released, but said however that one hostage had died of natural causes, according to dpa. "One of the female hostages died due to sickness today," an Afghan member of the team negotiating the release of the 23 Christian aid workers abducted last Thursday said on condition of anonymity. A spokesperson for the Taliban was however quoted in media reports as saying that the hostage had been killed by its militants because Afghan officials had not responded to Taliban demands to free prisoners in government custody. South Korean state news agency Yonhap had earlier reported that eight of the hostages were freed and were en route to a safe location after the payment of a ransom by Seoul. This claim was however rejected by Afghan provincial officials. No hostages have been released, said Mehrajuddin Patan, governor of the southern province of Ghazni where the hostages are being held. Patan also described the Taliban claim of having killed one hostage as "propaganda," released in an effort to put pressure on governments. Earlier on Wednesday, an Afghan mediator who declined to be named told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that a ransom had been paid to the Taliban to prevent them from killing the hostages. The hardline Islamic movement had earlier vowed to start killing some of the group as Afghan authorities had not yet responded to their demand to release Taliban prisoners. "We will start killing some of the hostages from now on till 2 pm because the government has not responded to our demand for the release of eight prisoners," purported Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi told dpa by phone from an undisclosed location. He said the movement had given a list of eight Taliban prisoners whom they wanted released to the mediators, and were willing to release eight of the hostages in exchange, but since there was no word from the authorities, they had decided to start killing them. The Afghan official did not disclose the amount of ransom paid. Taliban representatives previously demanded 100,000 dollars from the Korean negotiators to be allowed to talk to their abducted countrymen. Negotiations were still continuing Wednesday afternoon to secure the release of the 23. Waheedullah Mujadidi, who is heading the group of Afghan mediators between the South Korean government and the kidnappers, said the Taliban withdrew its prisoner list because they could not reach an agreement on which prisoners they wanted released. Meanwhile, another member of the Afghan mediation team told dpa there was disagreement among the Taliban in prioritizing the prisoners. "Since they cannot reach an agreement on the prisoner swap, there is a possibility that the kidnappers would accept the ransom offered to them," the official said, adding that he hoped the matter would be resolved by late Wednesday. Afghan and Taliban officials had earlier expressed confidence that the negotiations were going well and both sides were optimistic that the matter would be settled soon. The Taliban initially demanded the freedom of 23 Taliban prisoners in Afghan government jails in return for releasing the 18 South Korean women and five men.
