KABUL, July 23 -- The Taliban has extended the deadline for executing 23 South Korean hostages for another 24 hours until 7:00 p.m. (1430 GMT) Tuesday July 24th, a purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said Monday.
This is the second time that the Taliban extended the deadline for another day and night.
Taliban fighters had threatened to kill all the 23 South Koreans if Afghan authorities failed to release 23 Taliban prisoners before 7:00 p.m. (1430 GMT) on Sunday, but extended it to Monday night.
The 23 South Koreans were kidnapped by Taliban militants on a road in the central Ghazni province on Thursday afternoon.
Afghan and the U.S.-led coalition forces have cordoned off a suspected Taliban hideout in Qarabagh district of Ghazni to secure the release of the hostages.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Ahmadi said militants would execute all the 23 hostages if the troops recklessly carry out a storm.
A South Korean team led by a vice foreign minister arrived in Kabul on Sunday to facilitate the release of the hostages.
The Taliban also demanded the withdrawal of 200 South Korean troops from this country, while the South Korean government said the soldiers would be pulled out at the end of 2007 as scheduled.
Taliban militants have carried out kidnappings in this country over the past two years frequently, and some hostages were killed by the Taliban brutally.
