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 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Taliban militants threatened Friday to kill a group of abducted South Korean Christians, including 15 women, within 24 hours unless the Asian nation withdraws its 200 troops from Afghanistan. South Korea said Saturday it plans to withdraw its forces by the end of this year as scheduled.
Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters in Seoul that 23 South Koreans were kidnapped and indicated they are safe. A purported Taliban spokesman said Friday that the group was holding 18 Koreans.
In the largest abduction of foreigners since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, several dozen fighters kidnapped the South Koreans at gunpoint from a bus in Ghazni province on Thursday, said Ali Shah Ahmadzai, the provincial police chief.
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