Taliban leaders and South Korean officials were continuing negotiations by telephone over the fate of the remaining 19 hostages today, but no new face-to-face talks had been planned, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

TWO women among the 23 South Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban in mid-July were freed yesterday on a rural Afghan roadside and then driven to a US base, the first significant breakthrough in a hostage drama that is more than three weeks old.

The Afghan army today dropped leaflets warning of impending military action in the region where Taliban militants are holding 21 South Koreans, though the army said the upcoming operation is not connected to the hostages.

Taliban militants holding 22 South Korean hostages extended the deadline for the captives’ lives an additional two days after setting and letting pass two deadlines today for militant prisoners to be released from Afghan jails, a provincial governor said.

An Afghan governor today pleaded with the Taliban to extend a deadline for the lives of 22 South Koreans after militants warned the Afghan government to release some of its captured fighters or else hostages would die.