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GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The body of a second South Korean killed by the hardline Taliban movement was found overnight, Afghan police said Tuesday, adding new urgency to efforts to save the lives of 21 other hostages.
The bullet-riddled body was found in an area of the southern province of Ghazni, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of Kabul, near where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped July 19.
"It was the body of a South Korean. There were bullet wounds in the body," Ghazni police chief Alishah Ahmadzai told AFP.
The Islamic insurgents said late Monday they had shot dead the hostage after the expiry of two deadlines for the government to agree to free jailed Taliban prisoners.
"We set several deadlines and the Afghan government did not pay attention to our deadlines," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said afterwards.
The hostage was the second to be murdered by the militants who last week shot dead the leader of the Christian group, a 42-year-old pastor.
Ahmadi warned that more could die. The group had not set a new deadline in the standoff, he said, adding: "If the government does not care about demands, we will start killing more."
South Korean media said the latest victim was believed to be 29-year-old Shim Sung-Min, but Seoul officials were still trying to confirm the killing.
"If confirmed true, it is an intolerable act of barbarity," South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo told a cabinet meeting Tuesday. "The government must use all possible means to secure the safe return of the remaining hostages."
Shim's 62-year-old father Shim Jin-Pyo, his face creased with anxiety, told reporters: "I'm still waiting for the government's official announcement. I just hope all the 22 kidnapped people will come back safely."
His wife Kim Mi-Ok burst into tears and collapsed, shouting: "Save my son! I cannot live without him."
The Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera ran footage late Monday it said showed the hostages, with the women seated, wearing Islamic-style headscarves and looking weakened.
The South Korean evangelical church group, mostly in their 20s and 30s, was captured in Qarabagh while travelling by bus on a key highway from the troubled southern city of Kandahar, where they had officially been on an aid mission.
Government-appointed negotiators admitted on Monday that talks to free the Christian group had so far failed.
The rebels had also refused a government demand to release the 16 female captives in the group on the grounds it was against Islamic and Afghan custom to take women as prisoners and hostages, negotiator Mahmood Gailani said.
President Hamid Karzai has ruled out releasing prisoners in exchange for militant captives after five were freed in March in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist. Two Afghans who were with the reporter were beheaded.
The government was widely criticised for the deal, which observers said increased risks for foreigners.
The Taliban have said they are also holding a German engineer, kidnapped in Wardak province near Kabul a day before the South Koreans. They have also demanded the release of prisoners to save his life. - AFP/ir
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