KOREAN HOSTAGES: RAPED AND TORTURED?

It looks like the Taliban who captured the young Koreans had a bit of fun with them. First they knocked them around a bit, 'beat them severely' is, I believe, the terminology, because they refused to convert to Islam.

Then they tried to sexually assault the girls, but the Korean guys fought them off according to the same report. Maybe this is why two of the men were then knocked off and their bodies found later. "We don't take kindly to men protecting their womenfolk around here..." Bang, bang.

It seems that after that, they probably did get around to raping the girls according to later reports. (Though this has whipped up some controversy amongst the brotherhood):

Reports are filtering out of Afghanistan that at least four of the hostages were sexually assaulted by Pakistani Taliban which set off a fight between two Taliban groups. The sexual assault of the Korean women would be highly damaging to the Taliban’s effort to cultivate an image of being mujahadeen fighting for a Muslim cause in Afghanistan when they are going around kidnapping and raping women

Of course, it's OK to kidnap and torture them, kill a few off and extort money...Just can't be seen to be a sexual predator.

The original reports were that the Taliban received a cool 2.46 mill, but that figure was way off it seems. Now the figure sits at $20 million.

South Korea paid Afghanistan’s Taliban more than $20 million to release 19 missionaries they were holding hostage, a senior insurgent leader said on Saturday, vowing to use the funds to buy arms and mount suicide attacks.

The freed hostages flew out of Afghanistan on Friday to Dubai en route for South Korea. Seoul denies paying a ransom, but critics say negotiating with the Taliban sets a dangerous precedent that could spur more kidnappings–which the Taliban have vowed to carry out. [Epoch Times]

The Taliban have been so pleased with their success with the Koreans they have vowed to do it again:

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi vowed to abduct more foreigners, reinforcing fears that South Korea’s decision to negotiate directly with the militants would embolden them.

"We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan, because we found this way to be successful," he told The Associated Press via cell phone from an undisclosed location. [Amir Shah, AP]

Undeterred, the Korean World Missionary Fund will not give up their missionary efforts in the future.
Cross-posted here