From correspondents in Kabul, Afghanistan, 06:03 PM IST

The Taliban Saturday claimed to have killed one of the two German hostages kidnapped in the central province of Maidan Wardak, after the deadline set by the group for negotiations expired at noon (0730 GMT).

According to the group, one of the hostages was shot, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the country's troops would neither pull out of the country nor negotiate the release of the hostages.

'One of the hostages was killed at 12.05 (0735 GMT)', a caller who identified himself as Qari Mohammad Yousef Ahmadi and claimed to be a Taliban spokesman, told DPA from an undisclosed location, adding, 'Our forces waited for five more minutes, but there was no contact by German or Afghan governments.'

'We waited and set the deadline, but Germany announced that they are not going to negotiate with us, then we ordered the death of one them,' Ahmadi said.

'The Afghan and German government have only one more hour to contact us for negotiation, if not we will kill the last German hostage at 1 p.m. today (0830 GMT),' Ahmadi said.

Taliban insurgents Wednesday kidnapped two German nationals along with their five Afghan colleagues in Maidan Wardak province.

Ahmadi earlier had said, 'The Taliban leadership council demands all the German troops be pulled out of the country and in addition all Taliban prisoners in Afghan government jails be released.'

Abductors freed a German held for a week in western Afghanistan on July 5. It was not known whether a ransom was paid.

In October 2006, two German journalists were shot in northern Afghanistan, where some 3,000 German troops are deployed as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)