GHAZNI, Aug 13: Taliban freed two South Korean women hostages on Monday in what the militants called a “gesture of goodwill” towards talks to free the remaining 19 captured nearly a month ago.

Wearing headscarves and crying as they were bundled into a waiting vehicle, the pair were the first hostages freed since the militants captured 23 Christian aid workers on July 19. Two others were shot dead.

An official from the International Committee of the Red Cross said the two women were handed over to officials from South Korea, which named them as Kim Gin-A, 32, and Kim Kyung-Ja, 37.

“We feel fortunate that at least some of the hostages have been released,” said South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho Hee-Yong in Seoul, where tearful family members welcomed the release.

“But we again urge the kidnappers to immediately release all our citizens they hold hostage,” Cho told reporters.

The women were to be taken for a medical check-up at a South Korean military unit at Bagram military base north of Kabul before being flown home, said a South Korean foreign ministry official. A spokesman for the South Korean embassy in Kabul could not say when they would leave the country.

“They are staying at a safe place under our protection,” he said.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said talks would continue on the fate of the remaining hostages. But he reiterated the militant group’s demand for Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails to be released in return for the remaining captives.—AFP