KABUL: Authorities recovered the bullet-riddled body of a South Korean hostage in central Afghanistan yesterday.

A police officer who discovered the body said the man had 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach, and was found in the Mushaki area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province.

A Taliban spokesman said earlier that the militants had killed one of the hostages because Afghan authorities hadn't met their demands to release Taliban militants from prison.