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KUALA LUMPUR: Muslim-majority Malaysia called for the immediate
release of 21 South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan as a deadline
loomed Wednesday.
“As Muslims, the hostage-takers must not
resort to such action to pursue their agenda,” a statement from
the Malaysian foreign affairs ministry late Tuesday said.
“The holding and killing of hostages will not
solve problems. We appeal to them to show compassion to the innocent
Koreans. For the sake of humanity, Malaysia hopes the hostage-takers
will release them immediately.”
The hard-line Islamic Taliban militia has
already shot dead two of the South Korean aid workers.
They want at least eight Taliban prisoners freed
from Afghan jails and said that if their demands were not met by
0730 GMT Wednesday, they would start killing the rest of the
hostages.
Negotiations were apparently at a standstill.
Malaysia is chairman of the 57-member
Organization of the Islamic Conference. On Monday the group issued a
statement from its Jeddah headquarters calling for the South
Koreans’ immediate release.
There were also new fears Wednesday for a German
engineer held in Afghanistan since July 18, a day before the 23
South Koreans were captured.
Al-Jazeera television broadcast late Tuesday a
video that it said showed him pleading for his life.
--AFP
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