Via reuters.com -
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan Taliban rebels said they had killed two German hostages on Saturday, but Germany's foreign minister said one of the hostages was still alive and the other had died of a heart attack.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, also said the militants would start killing the 23 Korean hostages they held if South Korea did not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and the Afghan government did not release Taliban prisoners.
The spokesman said the two Germans had been killed after similar demands over Taliban prisoners and for Germany to withdraw its troops had not been met.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin there had been a lot conflicting information about the fate of the hostages, but analysis suggested one hostage was alive.
"We have to assume that one of the two hostages died while being held hostage and all indications are that he was not murdered, but that he died of a heart attack ... we will do everything possible to save the life of the second hostage."
He said German officials were working with the Afghan authorities to secure the release of the remaining hostage.
Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper quoted unnamed German government sources as saying Yousuf did not speak for the hostage takers. German intelligence sources told Bild the spokesman had nothing to do with the kidnappers, it said.
"He may be someone trying to take advantage of the situation," Bild said in a preview of an article for Sunday.
Taliban spokesman Yousuf insisted the two Germans were dead.
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