KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: The Taliban said Tuesday they were willing to swap women among the 21 South Korean hostages for any female Afghan prisoners held in US military bases in Afghanistan.

While the Afghan government said it was unaware of female prisoners with Taliban links, the spokesman for the extremists, Yousuf Ahmadi, said the militia was ready to do a one-for-one female prisoner swap.

The offer is the first new demand from the Taliban since two men among the Christian aid group were murdered after earlier deadlines for the release of Taliban prisoners expired.

"If the Afghan government or the Americans agree to free any Afghan women they've jailed in (military bases in) Kandahar or Bagram, we'll free the same number of female hostages," Ahmadi told AFP.

"We're ready for such a deal. We don't know how many women are in Bagram and Kandahar," he said by telephone from an unknown location.

Bagram Air Field, just north of Kabul, is the main base for the US-led military in Afghanistan, while the Kandahar base in the southern province of Kandahar plays a similar role for the NATO military presence in the country.

The South Koreans, among them 16 women, are believed to be held in southern Ghazni province, where they were kidnapped on July 19. - AFP/ac