Taliban offers to swap Korean hostages for fighters

The Taliban in Afghanistan today offered to swap 23 South Korean hostages for imprisoned Taliban fighters.

The militant group had said yesterday that it would kill the South Koreans if Seoul did not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. But it later changed that demand, saying the Afghan and South Korean governments had until 3.30pm Irish time today to agree to the release of 23 Taliban militants or the Korean hostages would be killed.