S Korean hostage video broadcast

A video of a group of South Koreans being held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taleban has been shown on Arabic TV station al-Jazeera.

It showed about seven women wearing headscarves with what appeared to be Taleban militants in the background.

The captives looked frightened but unharmed in the brief, shaky video.

The Taleban seized 23 Korean Christian aid workers on 19 July from a bus in Ghazni, and shot dead the male pastor leading the group last Wednesday.

Four of the women in the video were shown sitting on the ground and the rest were standing.

'Shameful'

The face of an Asian man dressed in traditional Afghan clothes was also shown.

A news anchor for the Qatar-based news channel said: "Al-Jazeera obtained footage showing the Korean hostages held by the (Taleban) movement from a source outside Afghanistan."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the kidnappings as "shameful", un-Islamic and against Afghan culture.

Meanwhile, more than 20 people have been killed in attacks by Taleban militants across the country, Afghan officials said.

Thirteen private security guards died in an ambush on a highway in the southern province of Zabul, they reported.

And nine policemen died in two separate attacks in Ghazni in and in the west at Nimruz, they added.