GHAZNI (Afghanistan), Aug 11: A Taliban spokesman said on Saturday the militants will release two sick, female South Korean hostages “soon” for the sake of good relations with South Korea, but international Red Cross and Afghan officials could not confirm the claim.

Spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said on Saturday the Taliban’s high command had made the decision to free the two women because they were sick, but added that the commanders had not decided on the timing of their release.

Two Taliban leaders and four South Korean officials met on Saturday for the second day of face-to-face talks over the fate of 21 South Korean hostages being held since July 19 by the militants.

The talks are being held at the Afghan Red Cross office in Ghazni with the International Committee of the Red Cross helping to facilitate the talks as a neutral intermediary.

The two Taliban leaders said earlier on Saturday that the Koreans would “definitely” be released, possibly as soon as “today or tomorrow”.

“The Taliban’s big commanders have decided for the sake of good relations between the Taliban and the Korean people that without any conditions they are soon going to release two sick women,” Ahmadi said.

Franz Rauchenstein, an official with the International Committee of the Red Cross, said neither the Taliban nor South Korean officials had talked to the Afghan Red Cross about facilitating the release of the hostages, and that he could not confirm that two women were to be released.

Marajudin Pathan, the local governor, said he had not heard that two women would be released and that it hadn’t been discussed during negotiations on Saturday. He said talks would continue on Sunday.

“Qari Ahmadi (the Taliban spokesman) is somewhere in Pakistan,” Pathan said. “He’s just running his mouth. They (the Taliban) are always giving contradictory statements.”

Pathan said he did not think the hostage crisis would be resolved by acceding to Taliban demands to release their imprisoned militants.

He refused to specify if that meant a ransom payment, though he has said previously he thought money would resolve the situation.—Agencies