July 24 (Reuters) - The Afghan government and Taliban rebels say they are hopeful of a peaceful outcome to free 23 South Korean hostages held by insurgents.

Following are details of reported kidnappings of foreigners in Afghanistan.

* Nov. 2003: Turkish engineer Hassan Onal is released by Taliban kidnappers after a month in captivity. Onal was seized from a U.S.-funded highway project on Oct. 30.

* Dec. 2003: Two Indians, kidnapped while working on a U.S.-funded road project, are released unharmed.

* March 2004: One Turk is shot dead and a second kidnapped in an attack in southern Afghanistan. They had been working on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. The kidnapped Turk was later released.

* Nov. 2004: U.N. workers Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Shqipe Hebibi from Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan are freed almost four weeks after they were abducted at gunpoint in Kabul. A Taliban splinter faction, Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), said it held them.

* Dec. 2004: Turkish engineer Mohammad Ayub, working on a road project between Jalalabad and Kunar, is kidnapped. The Interior Ministry later said the body of the kidnapped Turk had been found in eastern Afghanistan.

* May 2005: Clementina Cantoni, an Italian working for the CARE International aid agency, was seized by gunmen in Kabul. She was released unharmed after more than three weeks.

* Aug. 2005: David Addison, a British engineer, was kidnapped when gunmen attacked a convoy in the western province of Farah and killed three police escorts. Addison's body was found on Sept. 3. Taliban rebels said they killed him.

* Nov. 2005: Taliban guerrillas kidnap P.M. Kutty, an engineer with India's state-run Border Road Organisation, in the Khash Rod district of Nimroz province. He was killed on Nov. 22.

* March 2006: Taliban insurgents say they killed four hostages and dumped their bodies in the Kandahar-Helmand area in southern Afghanistan. The four were abducted on March 11. An official at the Ecolog services company in Kabul said the four hostages, all from Macedonia, were employees.

* April 2006: An Indian engineer, identified as K. Suryanarayan, was found beheaded on April 30 not far from where he was kidnapped near the main road between Qalat and Ghazni. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

* Oct. 2006: Gabriele Torsello, a London-based photojournalist who is a Muslim, was kidnapped on Oct. 12 by gunmen after he left by bus from Lashkar-Gah, capital of Helmand province in the south. He was released unharmed on Nov. 3.

* March 2007: The Taliban capture Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo of La Repubblica and two Afghans in Helmand province. He is handed over to the Italian embassy on March 19 but his Afghan driver is beheaded and his translator is executed on April 8.

* April 2007: The Taliban say they have kidnapped Eric Damfreville, a Frenchman, working for Terre d'Enfance aid organisation, along with their local driver and two other Afghans in Nimroz province. He is released on May 11. A French woman hostage who also worked for the Terre d'Enfance was released in late April by the Taliban after three weeks in captivity.

* July 2007: Two German engineers are kidnapped by the Taliban while travelling in Wardak province, southwest of the capital, Kabul. One German was killed, apparently by his captors. On July 23, the Taliban said the other German was still being held along with four Afghans.

On July 19, a group of 23 South Koreans from a church organisation in Bundang, outside Seoul, are kidnapped from a bus travelling from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. On July 24, the Taliban extend a deadline for South Korea to meet their demands by 24 hours.

Sources: Reuters

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