The Taliban has again extended its deadline to complete talks to secure the release of a French aid worker until after the French presidential elections end on Sunday, a spokesman for the fighters has said.

Qari Mohammad Yousuf said on Saturday that the extension had been awarded as "a sign of mercy".

The original deadline had already been extended by a week to this Saturday.

However, when asked what might happen to Eric Damfreville if Taliban demands for a French troop withdrawal from Afghanistan nor a prisoner release were met, he said: "Our reaction is clear, we may kill him."

The Taliban abducted Damfreville last month, along with another French aid worker, Celine Cordelier, and three Afghans working for Terre d'Enfance, an agency helping children in southwestern Afghanistan.

Cordelier was released a week ago as a "gesture of goodwill", the Taliban said at the time, because of progress made during three weeks of negotiations since the kidnappings.

French withdrawal

Taliban fighters have demanded the withdrawal of French forces from Afghanistan and the release of jailed members by the Afghan government.

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, said this week that efforts were under way to secure Damfreville's release after calls from Jacques Chirac, France's president, for him to intervene.

The five aid workers were kidnapped in the southeastern province of Nimroz, sandwiched between Iran and Afghanistan's opium centre of Helmand.

Taliban fighters are also holding five Afghan health workers and have threatened to kill one soon unless the government begins peace talks.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Afghan National Army soldier in Kabul. (AFP)

Al-Jazeera