Taliban Kill Two Kidnapped Germans

Taliban fighters Saturday claimed to have killed two Germans kidnapped last week near Kabul in Afghanistan.

The hostages were killed because the German government ignored the Taliban’s order to withdraw Germany’s 3,000 troops from Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, is quoted as saying by the BBC News.

Afghani and German officials could not confirm the killings.

The two Germans and five of their Afghan coworkers were kidnapped Thursday while working on a dam project in the central Wardak province.

The Taliban also threatened to kill at least 18 South Koreans kidnapped Friday from a bus in Ghazni, one province to the south, unless South Korea withdrew its 200 troops from Afghanistan, the BBC reported.

The Koreans’ bus was on the main highway from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. It was the largest abduction of foreigners since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.