By Emal Pashtunyar in Kabul Special to Korea Times KABUL _ Taliban militants in Afghanistan released seven hostages Thursday evening in two batches of four and three. A Taliban negotiator Mullah Bashir told The Korea Times over the telephone that the release of the group of four _ two men and two women _ had been confirmed, while confirmation of the freeing of the other three had been delayed due to the long distance they had to travel. However, he said they were handed over to officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He said the release of the remaining hostages has brought to an end their 43 days in captivity. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi told The Korea Times that the four hostages were handed over to the ICRC officials in Ghazni Province, where the original 23 Church volunteers were seized by militants on July 19. Ahmadi said the final release, which he termed peaceful, was the result of negotiations and an agreement between Taliban negotiators and Korean officials, Tuesday. He said both sides were bound to respect the five-point agreement. According to a tribal elder, who worked as an intermediary to ensure the safe release of the hostages, the newly released Korean nationals were in a good state of health. Haji Muhammad Zahir, from the Aab Band district of the province, said the four were handed over to the ICRC officials and taken to the Korean delegation in Ghazni. He said they would travel to Kabul from where they will fly home in a day or two. Zahir did not confirm or deny that a ransom had been paid for the release of the hostages. However, a Taliban leader in Ghazni, Mullah Nasrullah, categorically rejected the involvement of money in the deal in a telephone interview after the release of the remaining seven hostages. However, some sources privy to the negotiations and the deal, who had earlier told this reporter that a ransom was paid, again said that the Taliban had received money, though they did not mention how much. Earlier, the sources said the Taliban were demanding $10 million for the release of the 19 hostages, but that the Korean side only offered $500,000 for all the captives. The 23 Church volunteers were kidnapped on July 19 while returning from Afghanistan's volatile province of Kandahar, also the birthplace of Taliban movement, to the central capital Kabul. Two male hostages were killed by their kidnappers after the Afghan government refused to accept their demand for the release of Taliban prisoners. Two women, who were said to be seriously ill, were set free by the militants as a ``gesture of goodwill.’’ During the previous 43 days, the Taliban changed several deadlines for killing the hostages. They pressed the Afghan as well as the Korean government by using different tactics to accept their demands. However, the Afghan government, under pressure on the national as well as international level, refused to release any Taliban prisoners. During the period, several appeals were made by different groups within Afghan society as well as Korean Muslims for the release of the hostages. A rally was also staged in Ghazni Province, where the Koreans were seized, by locals who condemned the Taliban and asked them to immediately release the captives. The Upper and Lower houses of the Afghan parliament as well as some leaders at the recently held Pakistan-Afghanistan Peace Jirga also demanded the Taliban release the hostages. The Taliban also earned a bad name in Afghan society for kidnapping women. In Pashtun society, killing, torturing or kidnapping a woman is considered an offense against tradition and anyone committing these is subject to serious punishment. The kidnapping and release of the South Koreans is not a new thing in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Previously, the militants kidnapped an Italian journalist. She was released after the Afghan government set free five key Taliban prisoners. The driver and interpreter of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo were beheaded by the militants who accusing them of spying for the government. Before that, the militants had kidnapped a photojournalist Gabrille Torsello, also an Italian national. Torsello was set free following a secret deal between the Italian government and the Taliban. The deal was mediated by local elders in Helmand Province of the war-battered country. Just a day before the kidnapping of the 23 Koreans, the militants abducted two Germans and their five Afghan colleagues. One of the Germans, who were engineers and were visiting a dam project outside Kabul, was shot dead while the other and his colleagues are still in the hands of the Taliban.