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Twenty-three South Koreans were kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan on Thursday afternoon (local time), the Korean Embassy in Kabul and Afghan Interior Ministry said Friday.
The Islamist militants threatened to kill the South Koreans unless Korea withdraws its troops from Afghanistan by Saturday noon, according to AP. Some 210 Korean Korean troops -- 150 in the Dong-eui medical unit and 60 in the Dasan engineering unit -- have been stationed at the Bagram U.S. airbase since September 2002 and June 2003.
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A group of a Korean volunteers at Incheon Airport on July 13, before they went to Afghanistan for volunteer work. The group were kidnapped by Taliban on Thursday./Yonhap
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The abducted Koreans were members of the Saemmul church in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, who had gone to provide medical and other aid work in Afghanistan. They arrived in Kabul on July 13 and were scheduled to return to Korea next Tuesday. A bus carrying them was seized by Taliban on Thursday morning in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni Province, some 175 km south of Kabul, as they were traveling from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar.
Eighteen women and five men were traveling on the bus, 20 Saemmul church members and three Korean NGO workers who joined the group in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. The abduction came only a day after two German engineers and six Afghans were kidnapped by Taliban.
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A TV capture saying Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan kidnapped 23 Koreans, according to Reuters news agency with the help of local police./YTN
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Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, told AP by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location at least 18 South Koreans were seized. ˇ°They have got until tomorrow (Saturday) at noon to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, or otherwise we will kill the 18 Koreans."
Ahmadi later called German news agency DPA and said, "If until then the German and Korean authorities don't contact us to discuss the demands, the situation will be very difficult. After they contact us, we may extend the deadline, if not we will kill them.ˇ±
Taliban militants are increasing abductions of foreigners to topple the pro-Western Hamid Karzai government, remove foreign troops from Afghanistan and release Taliban prisoners from jail.
According to Korean Embassy in Kabul, the Gazhni provincial government, which is in contact with the kidnappers, said they are demanding the release of Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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