South Korean officials and the Taliban would resume face-to-face talks on 19 South Korean hostages at 10:00 AM (05:30 GMT) on Today in Ghazni province of central Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said yesterday.

Ahmadi told Xinhua from an undisclosed place that the talks would be held at the local office of International Committee of the Red Cross in Ghazni city, the provincial capital, as before, and the two Taliban delegates who engaged in the former direct negotiations would attend the upcoming talks.

He declined to say whether the Taliban still sticks to the exchange of Taliban prisoners for the hostages, which is flatly rejected by Afghan authorities.

But he reiterated the Taliban wants a peaceful solution to the hostage crisis through negotiations.

Neither Afghan nor South Korean officials have confirmed Ahmadi's saying.

A total of 23 South Koreans were kidnapped by Taliban militants on a road in Ghazni province on July 19.

Taliban rebels shot dead two male hostages on July 25 and July 30 separately to press Afghan and South Korean authorities to meet their demands.

Two female hostages were released on Aug. 13 as the Taliban claimed it wanted to show "a good gesture" toward South Korean authorities.

Taliban militants have carried out kidnappings in Afghanistan over the past two years frequently, and some hostages were killed.  

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2007)