Taliban kill second hostage

Earlier, Taliban kidnappers and Afghan negotiators resumed talks to free 22 South Korean hostages who were reportedly still alive despite two rebel deadlines expired.

8220;The talks and dialogue are going on to persuade the Taliban to release the hostages and no incident has happened to the hostages,8221; said deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal, who also heads a government team tasked to release the Christian captives.

The Taliban had extended its 8220;final8221; deadline at the request of Afghan mediators, but insisted the release of Taliban prisoners was the only way to settle the crisis.

When asked by Reuters if the government would bow to the Taliban demand, Mangal said 8220;all options8221; were under deliberation.

Taliban members were not available for comment after the second deadline expired at 1130 GMT.

Monday8217;s first deadline was issued by the Taliban leadership council, led by elusive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar, which gave the threat to kill the hostages more weight than several other deadlines that have passed without incident.

The Taliban seized the Korean Christians, most of them women, 11 days ago from a bus in Ghazni province to the southwest of Kabul and killed the leader of the group on Wednesday after an earlier deadline passed.

On Sunday, the Taliban ruled out further talks after they said government negotiators demanded the unconditional release of the hostages and a senior Afghan official said that force might be used to rescue them if talks failed.