GHAZNI, Afghanistan, 5 August 2007 — A purported South Korean hostage made an emotional plea for help in a telephone call with AFP yesterday as a negotiator again ruled out freeing Taleban prisoners in exchange for the 21 captives. The woman, who said she was being held with three others in the church aid group captured more than two weeks ago, said the captives were ill and finding it hard to survive.

“I don’t want to die. We want to go home,” she said in English in a call set up by Taleban spokesman Yousef Ahmadi. “I don’t know how long we can survive,” she said.

One of her purported captors telephoned an AFP journalist from an unknown location and then handed the phone to the woman, who introduced herself with a Korean name that was not recognized.

There was no immediate way of verifying that she was one of 23 South Korean church aid workers kidnapped in the southern province of Ghazni on July 19.

“Every day it’s really hard to survive. We really want to go home, we are all sick and weak,” she said.

“Please save us... we are all innocent people, we came here to help sick people but now we are all sick.” She appeared to ask that no military operation be conducted to free the group, saying, “please no war, if there is a war we will be really in danger.” Speaking in Afghanistan’s Dari language earlier, the woman said the group had been split up. “I don’t know about the others, if they’re alive,” she said.

Their captors “threaten us, they tell us they’ll kill us,” she said. “It’s difficult, they’re very dangerous.” The Taleban have shot dead two hostages, both men, since the group was seized. They have warned that more captives would be killed unless some of their fighters are released from jail, a demand the government has rejected. The woman pleaded with the South Korean and Afghan governments, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Pope Benedict XVI to help win the release of the aid mission.

The militants said after their latest deadline expired Wednesday they had not killed any more hostages because they were hoping for results from talks with the South Koreans.