Taliban: No more talk on hostages

Kabul: Taliban rebels on Sunday said there would be no more negotiations over the remaining 22 South Korean hostages.

Two Taliban deadlines have lapsed since Saturday. The rebels are demanding that the government free jailed militants in exchange for the hostages.

"There is no need for further talks. We have given the government a list of Taliban prisoners who should be released and that is our main demand," said Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf.

Yousuf reiterated the Taliban's warning against the use of force to free the hostages, saying it "will jeopardise the lives of the hostages."

An Afghan team is working to persuade the insurgents to free without condition the Christian volunteers they kidnapped from a bus 10 days ago in Ghazni, south of Kabul.

A deputy interior minister had said on Saturday that force might be used if talks fail. A South Korean envoy was expected to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai to try to speed up the hostages' release.