Taliban Claim Execution of South Korean Hostage

Taliban militants claimed they shot and killed one South Korean hostage on Wednesday while a group of abductees was freed and taken to a U.S. military base, officials said.

Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed that one of the hostages had been shot and killed around 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EDT), and a police official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation said militants told him the hostage was sick and couldn’t walk and was therefore shot.

The Jawa Report has been all over this hostage situation from the outset, as has Hot Air. The barbarity of the Taliban once again shows what we're up against. Islamists who have absolutely no regard for human life.

There is no evidence as yet that any of the group of 23 South Koreans had been freed.

The Taliban have been demanding that Taliban prisoners held by coalition forces and the Afghan government be released and the South Korean contingent of the coalition forces leave. Their latest deadline is 1:00 am Thursday local time.

UPDATE:
The bullet riddled body of one of the South Koreans held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan has been recovered.

The male victim had 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach, and was discovered in the Mushaki area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, said police officer Abdul Rahman.

The Taliban spokesman said earlier that the hostage was was killed because Afghan authorities hadn't met their demands to release other militants from prison.