Kidnappers of three UN workers in Afghanistan, including a woman from Co Armagh, said today the government had agreed to terms for their release.
Their claim came despite indications from Afghan and US officials that meeting the militants' demands was impossible.
The kidnappers from a Taliban faction have threatened to kill Ms Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Ms Shqipe Hebibi from Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Mr Angelito Nayan unless 26 Taliban prisoners, some of whom are understood to be in Guantanamo Bay, were freed.
"The government has promised to release our colleagues," Mullah Sabir Momin, one of several men claiming to speak for the Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), said. "They have also assured they would accept our other demands."
The three workers were abducted in Kabul on October 28th, after helping to run presidential polls won by US-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai.
Government officials, who have declined to give details of talks with the kidnappers, could not be reached for comment.
But Mr Behgjet Pacolli, a Kosovo businessman and relative of Ms Hebibi who came to Kabul to press for her release, said he was "very optimistic" the three would be freed tomorrow.
He said he had the information from "a very good source" he would not identify. "I am sure they will be released," he said. "It's just a matter of processing."
Ms Christine Roth, head of the UN Development Programme in Kosovo where Ms Hebibi worked before going to Kabul, was also hopeful. "There is no information on the timing, but we are cautiously optimistic they will be released," she said.
Government officials have expressed hope but also suggested a deal was not possible and visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage appeared to rule that out, saying compromising with hostage takers only encouraged more kidnapping.
"It is the United States' view that negotiating with hostage takers, compromising with hostage takers, only encourages more," he said in Kabul. He declined to comment on efforts to free the UN workers, saying: "These matters have to be handled very delicately."
Several deadlines for the release of Taliban members have passed, the latest this morning.
The kidnappers have said the UN workers were suffering from the bitter cold and poor food, but two were allowed to phone home on Monday and said they were being well treated.
While the mainstream Taliban has distanced itself from the kidnappings, it has a record of targeting UN and other foreign aid workers, severely disrupting aid and reconstruction work.