The BBC is reporting Afghan Taleban kidnappers have released 2 of the 21 South Korean hostages that have been in captivity since July 19th.
A Taleban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmad, told the BBC the women were sick and had been released as a “sign of goodwill”.
No Afghan or South Korean officials have been able to confirm the release.
Mr Ahmadi has at times given false information, reports the BBC’s Charles Haviland in Kabul.
The news of the release was fed to Agence France Presse by another Taleban source.
Another Taleban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed, told AFP news agency the move would “show that we’re honest in our talks and expect the government to be honest and free our prisoners”.
Korean news agency Yonhap News says the two hostages were due to be released within hours. Yonhap News was unable to confirm with the Red Crescent Society.
The Korean Times and Korean TV have led with the APF story on the release of two female hostages.
The Marmot’s Hole says the release has not been confirmed by the Korean government.
AFP
Al-Jazeera
Afghan Islamic Press
Dan Nolan of Al-Jazeera:
Qari Yusuf Bashir, head of the Taliban’s negotiation team, said earlier that Kabul would meet their demands and that the Korean and Afghan sides had already approved an initial “prisoners exchange”.
Speaking outside the Afghan Red Cross office in Ghazni where the second day of talks were held, he said: “We have great hope that the hostage crisis will resolved today or tomorrow inshallah [God willing].”  Â
The meeting between the Taliban leaders and four Korean officials, which began on Friday, was the first direct meeting since the Koreans were kidnapped.
Dan Nolan, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Kabul, said a Taliban spokesman told him that the two women were being freed in exchange for a South Korea reconfirming that all its troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of the year.Â
“There will be more negotiations between the South Koreans and the Taliban … but the Taliban have made it clear for any more hostages to be released it will only be as part of a prisoner-hostage exchange,” he said.
The Christian Post has an entirely different story quoting Bashir as saying all the hostages will be released Sunday.
The Marmot’s Hole is able to translate Korean into english, and access reliable news sources. He currently reports the Taliban turned back with the two hostages and did not turn them over Check his blog for breaking news, like many bilingual bloggers he is often ahead of traditional news sources.
Update: According to Yonhap News, the Taleban shelved the plan to free two of the female hostages.
Update 2: Monday –  CBC is reporting two South Korean female hostages have been released and turned over to The Red Cresent. The release of the two woman has also been confirmed by Afghan Islamic Press and Al Jazeera English.
BBC confirms:
The Taleban have freed two members of a group of South Korean hostages abducted in Afghanistan.
A BBC reporter in Ghazni province says he has seen the two freed women. Afghan officials have not formally announced their release.
Officials in Ghazni said that the Taleban had promised to release the two women following talks with a team of South Korean negotiators.
Two of the 23 South Koreans captured three weeks ago have been killed.
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