A purported Taliban spokesman said Sunday the group had set noon Monday (0730 GMT) as he called a final deadline for the release of 22 remaining South Korean hostages, or the rebel would kill the abductees. "Since it seems that the Kabul government doesn't want to solve this matter and is not very serious about it, so we give our last deadline which is until 12:00pm tomorrow," he told Deutsche Presse- Agentur by phone from an undisclosed location. "If the matter is not solved until then, it is possible that the killing of the hostages will be started," Ahmadi said. He said the group had demanded the release of eight prisoners in Afghan government jails, and "if we don't have a positive answer until tomorrow, the hostages will be killed." Since July 19, when the group was abducted in southern Ghazni province en route from Kabul to the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban has set several deadlines.
