Bullet-riddled body of S. Korean found

[oberliner]

Source: AP

KABUL, Afghanistan - The bullet-riddled body of a South Korean hostage was found by police Wednesday in central Afghanistan after a purported Taliban spokesman said the militants had killed one of the captives.

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.

The Taliban spokesman said earlier that the hostage was was killed because Afghan authorities hadn't met their demands to release other militants from prison.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan;_ylt=AvN4UWTBo6qpjRK3WUMSuRCs0NUE

[DU9598]

1. Why were they there?

I have been trying to find out their purpose in Afghanistan, but have had no luck.

[Ganja Ninja]

3. Medical relief workers.

Mostly women.

[Ganja Ninja]

2. Way to go George!

[GliderGuider]

4. Pashtun hospitality

Yesterday, I got this notice from Avaaz.org. They are internationally recognized for their positive activism. Please sign their online petition. It might help prevent another murder.

(emphasis is in the original)

* * *

Dear friends,

23 South Korean aid workers, most of them young women, have just been taken hostage by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, who are threatening to execute them this week. Not only are these aid workers' lives at stake, but their execution could trigger a mass evacuation of life-giving humanitarian aid from all of Afghanistan.

The situation is desperate, but there is hope. The Taliban are all from the 'Pashtun' ethnic group, and observe a strict code called Pashtunwali – the "way of the Pashtuns". This code demands, above all else: "hospitality to all, especially guests and strangers". There are rumours of infighting among the Taliban over these kidnappings, because they clearly violate the code.

A global outcry for the Taliban to follow their own code would certainly be covered by media in Afghanistan and Pakistan where the Taliban are based – creating more local pressure on them to free their prisoners. But these hostages are living under a 24 hour death sentence. We have seconds not minutes to act. Sign the petition below, forward this email, and let's report a truly powerful outcry to local journalists:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/honour_the_afghan_code

Pashtunwali has real power among ordinary people in Afghanistan. In 2003 Bettina Goislard, 29, was shot by Taliban gunmen while she was working for the UN High Commission for Refugees in the town of Ghazni, near where the Korean aid workers were kidnapped. Incensed by her murder, local people chased down the gunmen and beat them before handing them over to the police -- then they gathered up her body and marched several hundred miles to Kabul to show their sorrow to the world.

Recently, global pressure helped free BBC reporter Alan Johnston from his captivity in Gaza. It can be amazing what happens when we speak together around the world. So let's try our best, for these 23 young people and their families, and the millions of Afghans who need their aid -- With hope,

Ricken, Iain, Graziela, Tom, Paul and the rest of the Avaaz Team

[dollie300]

6. Is there any hard proof that these are really Talibanis holding the hostages?

I have my doubts about a lot of people who identify themselves as "Christian" who wage illegal wars, are unforgiving, and lie all the time. I remember when the Taliban would not give up Osama because he was "guest" in their country. They risked and received their own destruction because they would not turn him over out-right.

[oberliner]

7. Mr. Ahmadi contacted journalists to say that the Taliban was running out of patience

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who has been claiming to speak for the kidnappers all week, said that a Korean man was killed because the government did not meet the militants’ demands for the release of eight Taliban prisoners in exchange for eight Koreans.

“They do not pay attention, and did not give a positive response, so that’s why we killed one Korean hostage,” Mr Ahmadi said. He gave the man’s name, and said he was killed in the middle of the afternoon in a desert area near the main highway in the Qarabagh district. He said more hostages would be killed in ten hours if the government was not more cooperative.

In the morning, Mr. Ahmadi contacted journalists to say that the Taliban was running out of patience. The group would start to kill hostages, he said, if the government did not meet its demands for the release of 23 Taliban prisoners and the withdrawal of South Korean troops from Afghanistan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/world/asia/25cnd-afghan.html?hp

[ckramer]

5. Just don't know why anyone nowadays would want to go to hell holes like Afghanistan

and Iraq?