(Photo: AP Images / Musadeq Sadeq)Another five released South Korean hostages, escorted by an international Red Cross official, rear, are seen walking after their release by Taliban militants in Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007. Taliban militants released eight South Korean hostages on Wednesday, the first of 19 captives scheduled to be freed under a deal struck between the insurgents and the South Korean government.
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The Taliban freed five more South Korean hostages Wednesday following the release of a first set of three, as the militant group began to fulfill its promise to release its remaining 19 captives.
The set of four women and one man was released in a desert close to Shah Baz several hours after the first set of three women was released, said an Associated Press reporter on the scene. None of the eight said anything to reporters and all were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
While South Korea identified the first three released women as Ahn Hye-jin, Lee Jang-ran and Han Ji-young, the identities of freed hostages in the second set were not immediately revealed.
The releases occurred a day after the Taliban and South Korea struck a deal in which Korea promised to withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year and to block South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the country. The rebels had reportedly foregone their original demand for a prisoner exchange.
It has been well over a month since the Taliban militants abducted the original group of 23 South Korean Christian volunteers on July 19 – the largest abduction of foreigners in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. During that period, two male hostages have been killed – the leader of the group, Bae Hyung-kyu, who was found dead on July 25, and 29-year-old Shim Sung-min, whose body was found July 30. Prior to the latest releases, two females – 37-year-old Kim Kyung-ja and 32-year-old Kim Ji-na – were freed on Aug. 13.
In South Korea, family members shed tears of joy Tuesday upon hearing announcements from their government that their children and siblings would be freed by their captors within days.
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Family members reportedly ran out of their church, where they had set up an emergency center to monitor the hostage crisis, shouting, “All of them will be freed,” according to The Korea Times.
Relieved relatives thanked everyone for their prayers and apologized for making people worry for so long.
“We are more than thrilled to learn that they are free, but I must tell you that we can’t wait until all of them return safely,” said Cha Sung-min, a spokesman for the hostages’ family members, according to Korea Times.
Korean citizens on the streets also expressed joy that the nerve-wrecking ordeal was nearing an end.
“I have been praying everyday for them,” said Choi Sun-hee, a 55-year-old homemaker. “They were like my own sons and daughters. I am happy to hear the news.”
After the release of the first three women Wednesday, a Taliban noted that up to another seven hostages might “possibly” be released later in the day, according to AP.
Christian Post reporter Eric Young in Washington contributed to this report.
