KABUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban said on Saturday they had freed two female South Korean hostages, but local and national government officials said they had no knowledge of such a release. "Today at 6.30 pm (1330 GMT), we released two of the female Korean hostages who were seriously ill, without any condition," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters by telephone from an unknown location. The governor of Ghazni province, where the group of Korean church volunteers were seized on July 20 and are thought to be held, said he had no knowledge of any release. "Neither from the Korean side, nor from the Taliban side, we haven't heard any such thing ... I don't know how the Taliban say that," governor Merajuddin Pattan told Reuters. A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai also said he had no knowledge of any hostage release. Taliban and South Korean negotiators have held two days of talks to free 21 remaining Korean hostages, without any clear result. More talks are due on Sunday. The Taliban have already killed two male hostages and threatened to kill more among the remaining 21, 18 of whom are women, unless Taliban prisoners are freed in exchange. The Afghan government has said it will not free jailed rebels because, it said, that would encourage more kidnappings.
