Update: Afghan government has confirmed one hostage has been killed – CBCÂ
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. – AP
Note: Some of these reports have not been verified
Reuters and Yonhap News is reporting a South Korean Church short term missionary (one of 23 kidnapped) in Afghanistan has been killed. No word from Reuters on whether it was a male of female hostage. Al Jazeera says the murdered hostage is male. Afghan officials say they have been told the hostages have been split up into groups of two or three to make NATO and Afghan forces harder to find them. An Aghan police officer says the hostage was shot because he could not walk according to AP. Taliban Qari Mohammad Yousuf says the rest will be killed at 4:30 pm today (EST) if demands are not met.
Updates as they occur at Marmot’s Hole
A German reported reported kidnapped yesterday in the eastern part of the country has been released.
Reports the Korean government attempted to stop the missionaries from going to Korea and sending a plane to get them out were apparently Internet rumours. Afghanis are protesting in the streets, demanding the release of the Koreans.
James Bays, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Afghanistan, said that he was told by a spokesman that “a male hostage had been killed and his body was left next to the main Kabul-Kandahar highway.”
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the spokesman’s information. Melissa Chan, reporting for Al Jazeera from South Korea on Tuesday, said that the media in South Korea was reporting that eight hostages had been moved to safety when it was announced that the hostage had been killed. (Photo Christian Post: family member grieves)
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Yonhap News is reporting:
Eight of 23 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan were released late Wednesday, a government official said, amid reports that the South Korean government paid a ransom to the kidnappers.  The Taliban had earlier demanded the abductees be exchanged for an equal number of Taliban prisoners.
  Whether the Afghan government has agreed to release Taliban prisoners could not be confirmed.
  An unidentified Afghan official, however, earlier told Japan’s Kyodo News agency that “huge amounts of money” had been paid to the Taliban for the release of the eight hostages.
Yonhap is reporting some of the hostages are ill.
CBCÂ There are unconfirmed reports 8 hostages have been released and are on their way to a US military base and medical attention.
Scribblings of the Metropolitican – A Certain Lack of Gravity
