S. Korean Church Group Taken By Taliban

At least 20 Christian aid workers from South Korea have been kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

The group was traveling from Kandahar to Kabul when their bus was hijacked Thursday night, the Korea Times reported. Anas Sharif, a Taliban commander who claimed responsibility for the abduction, said that the bus had been abandoned and its passengers moved elsewhere.

The newspaper quoted a local source who said that the Taliban would probably free the women in a few days.

The group included 19 members of the Saemmul Community Church and two South Korean workers for a non-governmental organization.

Alalam Satellite TV said the Taliban promised not to harm the group.

They are safe with us, we are investigating them and our demands and reaction will be announced later, Said Yousuf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the group, in a telephone message.

Shortly before the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban government put two Christians on trial on charges of trying to make converts from Islam. They were freed unharmed after the fall of the government.