Berlin: claim that hostages killed unconfirmed (2nd Lead)

Jul 21, 2007, 10:43 GMT

Berlin - The German Foreign Ministry in Berlin said Saturday it had no independent confirmation of reports that two German hostages had been killed by Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan.

A spokesman claiming to speak for the Taliban had previously charged that Berlin had not fulfilled a deadline to enter negotiations by noon Saturday (0730 GMT) and claimed that both engineers had been killed.

'We take these statements very seriously and are studying all the evidence,' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger in Berlin.

'So far we have not obtained any independent confirmation that an abducted German may have been murdered.'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated in a news interview published Saturday that Berlin would not negotiate, nor would German troops pull out of Afghanistan.

'We can't give up on our efforts now. The Afghan people must not be left in the lurch,' Merkel said in the interview printed by the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper in southern Germany.

She said a Foreign Ministry crisis team was working very hard to obtain the hostages' release, adding, 'In the interests of those affected, I cannot say more than that.'

Berlin has always said in the past that it does not negotiate with abductors or pay ransoms, but has never explained how various hostages have been released, often after months of intense work by German diplomats.

Civilian reconstruction in Afghanistan had already had 'considerable positive effects,' Merkel said.

She said Germany would keep its operations going and she would appeal to legislators to extend authorization for the mission at the next vote on the issue in autumn.

On Friday, the Foreign Ministry in Berlin had voiced doubt as to whether the kidnappers were genuinely Islamists, saying there was no reliable evidence for this.

Germany has 3,150 soldiers in Afghanistan, mainly in the relatively peaceful north, with an emphasis on provincial reconstruction to revive education and commerce and dig wells.

The German Development Aid Ministry has an annual budget of 100 million euros (138 million dollars) for bilateral aid to Afghanistan, with about 20 million euros going direct to the Afghan government construction fund.

The United States, Japan, Britain and Germany are the main donors in the country.

Some German troops are also deployed in the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) against the Taliban.

In addition, Germany is leading EUPOL, a European Union mission to train and advise the Afghan police. The mission is led by Friedrich Eichele of Germany and includes about 60 Germans.