18 South Koreans Abducted in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban gunmen abducted 18 mostly female members of a South Korean church group, and a purported spokesman for the Islamic militia said Friday the group will be questioned about their activities in the country before their fate is decided.

Gunmen seized the bus Thursday as it traveled on the main road from the southern city of Kandahar to the capital Kabul, said Mohammad Zaman, the Ghazni province deputy police chief.

He blamed the kidnapping, which took place in Qarabagh district, on the "enemies of Afghanistan," a usual reference for Taliban and other militants that are active in the area.

Zaman could not say how many people were on the bus. A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said that some Koreans may have been kidnapped, but provided no details.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman, said 18 South Koreans, 15 women and three men, were abducted by the militants.

"We are investigating, who are they, what are they doing in Afghanistan," Ahmadi said, speaking on a satellite phone from an undisclosed location. "After our investigation, the Taliban higher authorities will make a decision about their fate."

"Right now they are safe and sound," Ahmadi told The Associated Press.

Ahmadi's claim could not be independently verified.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Friday that the kidnapped Koreans were members of Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, south of the capital, Seoul.

A church official confirmed 20 of its members were in Afghanistan for volunteer work, adding that the church was currently unable to reach them.

"The Foreign Ministry has informed us this morning that the abductees could be our church members, so we are trying to confirm it," the official said on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk to the media.

The group left South Korea last Friday and was to return on July 23, she said.

The kidnapping comes a day after two Germans and five of their Afghan colleagues, working on a dam project, were abducted in the central Wardak province.

On June 28, another German man was kidnapped in western Afghanistan, but was released after a week. The kidnappers, using tribal elders as intermediaries, demanded $40,000. It was not clear whether money changed hands.

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Associated Press writer Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.