SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean negotiators in Afghanistan have reached a deal with Taliban militants holding 19 South Korean Christian aid workers for over a month, a presidential spokesman in Seoul said Tuesday.
The group of South Koreans was kidnapped in Ghazni province on July 19.
Seoul welcomes the deal, but the spokesman cautioned that many details must still be worked out and the aid workers will not be released immediately.
Under the terms of the agreement, South Korea agreed to stick by its previous decision to withdraw its 200 non-combat troops from Afghanistan, which work mostly in an engineering and medical capacity.
In addition, Seoul will halt all Christian missionary work in Afghanistan.
The spokesman said there was no agreement to pay the captors, nor was there any mention of releasing Taliban prisoners -- a major demand of the kidnappers.
Twenty-three hostages, all church volunteers, were seized July 19 by the Taliban militant group while they were traveling on a bus in Afghanistan. Two were executed and two others were freed, leaving 19 still in captivity.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan killed three NATO soldiers and wounded six others on Tuesday as they were working on a bridge project, according to a news release from NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
As a matter of ISAF's policy, the soldiers' nationalities were not released. The suicide bomber approached the soldiers and "self-detonated, instantly killing himself and two nearby soldiers," ISAF said.
The third soldier died en route to an ISAF medical facility.
"Our thoughts during this very difficult time are with the friends, family and colleagues of the soldiers who were killed in this incident," said ISAF spokesman Maj. Charles Anthony.
On Monday, three coalition service members and two Afghan soldiers were killed in an ambush in Kunar province, also in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said. Three coalition and seven Afghan soldiers were wounded.
The nationalities of the slain service members in this incident also were not supplied. U.S. troops have a strong presence in the eastern part of the country.
Near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, Afghan and coalition forces on Tuesday killed two Taliban militants and detained five others. The operation occurred southwest of the city, the U.S.-led coalition
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/28/taliban.hostages/index.html
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