Militants in Afghanistan who have threatened to kill three kidnapped UN workers, including Northern Ireland woman Anetta Flanigan, have agreed to give the Afghan government until tomorrow to find and release 26 named Taliban prisoners, a spokesman for the militants said yesterday, writes writes David Brunnstrom in Kabul.
Following talks with UN and Afghan government officials through intermediaries, the kidnappers said they were willing to "soften" other demands if their 26 comrades were freed.
"We gave them a list of 26 people we want them to release," said Mr Sayed Khalid Agha, who claimed to be speaking for the Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims) group.
"They sought two days to find where these 26 prisoners are and we agreed," he claimed.
Ms Flanigan was abducted along with Filipino Angelito Nayan and Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi in Kabul on October 28th. The three were part of the UN body overseeing the October 9th Afghan elections.
The kidnappers threatened to kill them unless their demands, which included the release of Taliban prisoners, the withdrawal of US troops and the suspension of UN operations in Afghanistan, were met, but several deadlines have since passed.
The United Nations and the Afghan government have declined to comment on the talks. However, a defence ministry spokesman suggested that some progress had been made. "We are hopeful they will be released," he said late yesterday.
All three hostages are said to be suffering from the cold and poor diet.
A Swiss-based Kosovan businessman who said he was a cousin of Ms Hebibi made a televised appeal for her release at the weekend, saying she was a Muslim who came to help Afghanistan.
"Shqipe Hebibi went to Afghanistan to help our brother people here," Mr Behgjet Pacolli said on a private Afghan television channel. "Please release her."
A videotape broadcast by Arab television station Al Jazeera on October 31st showed the distressed hostages answering questions from a captor whose face was hidden by a scarf.
On the tape, Ms Hebibi said she had thought she could help a country similar to her own.
"I know the culture, I know the religion, and that's why I thought I can help," she said. "We are not related to America."
The UN workers had been helping run Afghanistan's presidential election, which the Taliban vowed, but failed, to disrupt. US-backed incumbent President Hamid Karzai won the election.