Kabul: Afghan elders and clerics were trying to negotiate with militants holding 23 South Korean hostages in central Afghanistan a day after a purported Taliban spokesman said the hard-line militia had extended its deadline for their lives until today evening.

A five-member delegation from Ghazni province travelled to a remote area of Qarabagh district today to try to secure the South Koreans freedom, said Khwaja Mohammad Sidiqi, the local police chief. "Our negotiations are continuing," said Khial Mohammad Husseini, a lawmaker representing Ghazni province in Afghanistan's parliament. "I hope that today we will get a good result."

Yesterday, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said the militants had extended the deadline by another day after the Afghan government refused to release any of the 23 Taliban prisoners the insurgents want freed.

Though some of Ahmadi's statements turn out to be true, he has also made repeated false claims, calling into question the reliability of his information.

The militants have pushed back their ultimatum on the Koreans fate at least three times. Afghan officials in Ghazni province have met the militants in person and are also negotiating over the phone, but little progress appears to have been made so far.

The deputy interior minister, Abdul Khaliq, yesterday said Afghanistan was not prepared to make a deal "against our national interest and our constitution," though he did not explicitly rule out freeing any prisoners.