E-KAZI, Afghanistan, August 29 , SPA -- Taliban militants on Wednesday released eight of 19 South Korean captives they promised to free under a deal struck with the South Korean government to resolve a hostage crisis that began almost six weeks ago, accoridng to AP. The hostages were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross at two separate locations in central Afghanistan close to the city of Ghazni, an Associated Press reporter said. The first group of three women were released in the village of Qala-e-Kazi. Several hours later, four women and one man were released in a desert close to Shah Baz, said the reporter, who witnessed both hand-overs. None of the eight said anything to reporters. The three women arrived in Qala-E-Kazi in a single car, their heads covered with red and green shawls. Red Cross officials quickly took the three to their vehicles before leaving for the office of the Afghan Red Crescent in Ghazni, witnesses said. Relatives of those released expressed relief the ordeal was over. «I talked to my parents on the phone and they cried and said '(our daughter) is coming back alive,»' said Lee Jung-hoon, the brother of one woman released Wednesday. «On the other side of my mind ... I strongly hope that the remaining hostages will safely come back soon as well,» Lee said from South Korea. In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said the first three hostages released, who he identified as Ahn Hye-jin, Lee Jung-ran and Han Ji-young, did not appear to have any health problems. To secure the release of the church workers, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made well 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 country, something it already promised to do. The Taliban apparently backed down on earlier demands for a prisoner exchange. The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 hostages as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants executed two male hostages, and they released two women earlier this month. The insurgents have said they will free all the hostages, who they are holding in different locations, over the next few days. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, welcomed the news of a deal and called for all the hostages to be freed quickly. He said he used «all possible efforts» as secretary-general to help obtain the release of the hostages, talking to leaders in Afghanistan and the region who might have influence.
