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Taliban militants release four more S Korean hostages

Taliban militants released four more South Korean hostages in central Afghanistan yesterday, witnesses said.

The release of the three remaining hostages was believed to be imminent, a Red Cross official said.

The two men and two women were handed over to officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on a road in the Janda area of central Afghanistan, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.

Reto Stocker, the head of the ICRC delegation to Afghanistan, said representatives were on their way to pick up the three remaining hostages from an agreed location elsewhere.

On Wednesday, the Taliban released 12 of 19 South Koreans held hostage. Those hostages were also released into the care of ICRC officials at three separate locations in central Afghanistan.

The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 South Koreans as they traveled by bus from Kabul to Kandahar on July 19. The militants killed two male hostages late last month and released two women earlier this month as gesture of goodwill.

Under the terms of Tuesday's deal, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made before the hostage crisis began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Seoul also said it would prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the staunchly Muslim country, something it had already promised to do.

The Taliban apparently backed down on earlier demands for a prisoner exchange. But the militant group could emerge with enhanced political legitimacy for negotiating successfully with a foreign government.

South Korea and the Taliban have said no money changed hands as part of the deal.
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