News of the Day! 30 Dead Taliban...Count 'em .. 30!

Holy smokes what a day in southern Afghanistan! 30 dead Taliban isn't bad for a week but in one day, in one air strike, is phenomenal! Here's the crux of what went on from the story here at AFP:

NATO warplanes pounded a militant compound in southwest Afghanistan,
killing 30 Taliban fighters, after clashes that left three Afghan police and
troops dead, officials said Thursday.
The rebels, who included
Pakistani fighters, had moved into Farah province from neighbouring Helmand a
few days earlier, an Afghan army commander and a police chief
said.

In initial fighting two Afghan soldiers and a policeman were killed and
several were wounded.
"Later, ISAF air planes bombed the fort and 30 Taliban
including their ranking commanders were killed," said the commander, Jalandar
Shah Behnam. "There is no one left inside the fort," he said.

Isn't it terrific? I do want to take a closer look at the one line of the article that I bolded above - "...had moved into Farah province from neighbouring Helmand..."

Now, that may not seem significant but considering the fact that right now in Helmand province there are about 3,000 U.S. Marines kicking Taliban ass backwards every single day and laying down a big body count of rag heads, it makes this understandable. The Taliban are trying to avoid Helmand to some degree, shifting over to Farah and probably trying to swing around the area the Marines are in. Well, if that was the plan, these 30 are evidence that it doesn't work too well.

The other part of this is how swiftly our aircraft were able to respond to this. The Taliban are not stupid and when they saw the troops start to engage or try to corner them, I'm sure they had an escape plan but the aircraft must have been sent in pronto and man oh man, what a sweet result!

NOTE: At the end of the article excepted below, you will see that there are reports of ANOTHER 15 dead Taliban in the same Farah province from another bombing run by NATO planes. Gotta love it, eh?

At least 30 Taliban killed in fighting: Afghan officials

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — NATO warplanes pounded a militant compound in southwest Afghanistan, killing 30 Taliban fighters, after clashes that left three Afghan police and troops dead, officials said Thursday.
The rebels, who included Pakistani fighters, had moved into Farah province from neighbouring Helmand a few days earlier, an Afghan army commander and a police chief said.
Afghan soldiers and police and troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Wednesday surrounded their compound in the Bala Buluk district, the army commander for western Afghanistan told AFP.
In initial fighting two Afghan soldiers and a policeman were killed and several were wounded.
"Later, ISAF air planes bombed the fort and 30 Taliban including their ranking commanders were killed," said the commander, Jalandar Shah Behnam. "There is no one left inside the fort," he said.
The Farah deputy police chief, Mohammad Nabi Popal, also said 30 Taliban were killed and one of his policemen.
"They were mostly Taliban from Helmand and some Pakistani Taliban who infiltrated our province from neighbouring Helmand province," he said.
ISAF did not immediately comment.
The NATO force has been carrying out intense operations in Helmand over the past weeks, saying it has caused significant losses to rebels particularly in the Garmser district on the border with Pakistan.
The district is said to be a Taliban gateway into Afghanistan from Pakistan, where extremists are said to have bases and training camps.
Popal said ISAF planes also bombed another area of Farah overnight after Taliban attacked police, wounding three of them.
"Heavy casualties were inflicted to Taliban but we don't have confirmed figure," he said, adding "up to 15 may have been killed."