More than 30 Taliban militants drowned when a boat sank in southern Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday. The boat sank after coming under fire from soldiers as it crossed the Helmand River on Monday carrying Taliban fighters escaping military operations, the ministry said in a statement. This is the second such incident since Friday when another boat sank under similar circumstances, drowning 60 rebel fighters.In Monday’s incident, Afghan soldiers, with foreign support, fired on the boat as it crossed the river, a ministry spokesman said. “Over 30 Taliban were on board and all of them drowned,” General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP. The bodies had not been recovered, he added. There was no other confirmation of the tolls for either of the boats.
According to Reuters, the boat came under fire from US helicopters and joint ground fire and the Taliban retaliated, resulting in their deaths. “Those onboard were all terrorists,” a ministry statement said. The US-led coalition said it was aware of the incident, which it claims occurred on Sunday, but did not have any immediate comment on the situation. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force did not have any information about either of the two incidents, reported AFP. A Taliban spokesman rejected the report as baseless, reported Reuters.
