Question: What’s the simplest way to exterminate murderous Taliban fighters?
Answer: Sink their boat.
SFGate reported:
A gunbattle and airstrikes killed an estimated two dozen Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, while more than 20 suspected militants drowned when security forces sank their boat as they were crossing a river to flee an attack, officials said Tuesday.
The Taliban fighters attacked Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops with rockets and gunfire Monday in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province, sparking a four-hour battle, a coalition statement said. Fighter aircraft bombed three enemy positions, it said.
The statement said “an estimated two dozen enemy fighters” were killed during the battle, but gave no further details on the casualty toll.
In neighboring Helmand province, between 20 and 30 suspected Taliban fleeing Afghan and foreign troops drowned in the Helmand River while trying to cross from Sangin to Musa Qala when their boat was sunk by security forces, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.
“The enemy shot from the boat toward the security forces and the security forces in response shot at the boat. As a result the boat sank,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The drowning was the second such incident in a week. On Friday, a makeshift boat carrying fighters fleeing a battle sank, killing an estimated 60 Taliban, Azimi said.