Three women were handed over this morning to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at the village of Qala-e Kazi in Ghazni Province to the southwest of Kabul. ICRC representative Craig
Muller said they appeared to be in good physical health.

Taliban spokesman Qari Bashari told Radio Free Afghanistan by telephone from an unknown location that five other hostages four other woman and a man were released this afternoon.

They were among 23 South Korean Christian aid workers seized by Taliban militants in Ghazni Province on July 19. Earlier, the Taliban had killed two men and freed two women hostages.

Haji Zahir Kharoti, the Afghan tribal elder and mediator who transported the three women to the Red Cross office today, told Radio Free Afghanistan that it would not be possible to free all of the hostages until Thursday (August 30):"They are in remote areas and [the Taliban] does not have the ability
to bring them all together and release all of them [today.]"

The deal on the release of the hostages was reached on Tuesday (August 28) during talks in Afghanistan between South Korean diplomats and Taliban representatives.

In return, the South Korean government has promised to pull out its 200 troops in medical and engineering units from Afghanistan by the end of the year something it already was scheduled to do. Seoul
also says it will ban missionary activities by South Koreans in Afghanistan.

South Korean missionary organizations have said they will end their operations in Afghanistan -- including humanitarian relief work to comply with the deal.