A South Korean delegation has arrived in Afghanistan to start negotiations aimed at winning the release of 23 South Koreans taken hostage by Taleban militants.
The officials are expected to hold talks with Afghan authorities and, possibly, with the Taleban abductors of the South Korean Christian evangelists. The South Koreans were on a bus riding between Kabul and Kandahar when they were abducted Thursday.
The Taleban set a seven p.m. Sunday deadline for an answer to its ultimatum that all South Korean troops leave Afghanistan. South Korea has said it will bring its 200 troops home by the end of the year, as had already been scheduled.
Negotiations over the fate of the South Korean hostages will occur as authorities try to confirm the fate of two Germans taken hostage by Taleban militants last week.
The Taleban claims to have killed both Germans, but Afghan and German authorities say they believe one hostage died of a heart attack and the other is still alive.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the German hostage whose heart gave out apparently was a victim of stress. Steinmeier says Germany is doing everything possible to save the second captive's life. The two men were kidnapped Thursday in central Afghanistan. The Taleban says the foreigners' five Afghan colleagues were killed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected the Taleban demands, and pledged that Germany's 3,000 troops in Afghanistan will remain there.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP, Reuters and Bloomberg.
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