Two Gunmen Killed in American Univ in Kabul, 13 More Dead
Kabul police chief says Afghan police is responding to the “complex attack”.
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- Gunfire and explosion heard at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.
- Two gunmen were killed on early Thursday morning after prolonged searches by Afghan security.
- 13 Dead and 36 Injured in the attack.
- Dozens of students and staff managed to flee.
- Second attack in a month on the University staff.
- Massoud Hossaini, a Pulitzer winning photojournalist, was in the campus when the attack took place.
An attack at the American University in the Afghan capital, Kabul, is over after security forces killed two gunmen, reported a police official on Thursday.
“Based on the recent information, one professor, seven students, two security guards of the university and three personnel of the National Security and Defense Forces were martyred while nine policemen and 36 students and staff of the university were injured”, reported a statement from Afghanistan’s Presidential Office.
Police said earlier they had rescued some 500 students from the walled compound.
Afghan security forces combed the American University in Kabul in the early hours of Thursday for the two suspected gunmen who might be still at large, following an attack on the compound that sent students fleeing in panic, reported internal ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, late on Wednesday.
Unconfirmed reports from local media suggest that close to 100 students and staff managed to flee the scene of the attack as some even jumped from second floor windows to escape the gunfire and explosions.
Suspected militants stormed the Kabul campus of the American University of Afghanistan on Wednesday. Subsequently, elite Afghan forces surrounded the university and witnesses at the scene said special forces had entered the walled compound where gunfire that had lasted for more than an hour but had since stopped, reported a senior interior ministry official.
Dozens of students and staff are still feared to be locked down in safe rooms and under guard, many of who have managed to make contact with their families.
Fresh reports from the scene indicate that gunfire can still be heard inside the American University of Afghanistan campus as the forces slowly carry out clearance operation in order to avoid civilian casualties.
While the US State Department has said it condemns the attack on the American University in Afghanistan in the strongest terms, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
Massoud Hossaini, a Pulitzer winning photojournalist, was inside the campus when the attack began.
Massoud Hossaini said he was in a classroom with 15 students when he heard an explosion on the southern flank of the campus.
“I went to the window to see what was going on, and I saw a person in normal clothes outside. He shot at me and shattered the glass,” Hossaini said, adding that he fell on the glass and cut his hands.
Another trapped victim took to Facebook to narrate the scenes from inside the campus.
First Images of the Attack
Gunfire and explosion was heard at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul on Wednesday, an Afghan interior ministry official said. Reports suggest multiple gunmen entered the campus by blowing up the nearby wall in the university compound and opened fire early Wednesday evening.
Kabul police chief says Afghan police is responding to the “complex attack”.
Officials confirmed dozens of students and staff are trapped inside the campus, reports local media. Security forces have cordoned off the area.
Eyewitnesses who escaped the scene revealed the incident started with gunfire and then was followed by an explosion.
Reports suggest that ambulances carrying the wounded are rushing to the Emergency Hospital.
Wednesday’s incident comes close on the heels of an attack on 7 August in which two teachers from the university were abducted at gunpoint. The victims– American and Australian– are still missing.
American University of Afghanistan’s website calls itself “Afghanistan’s only private, not-for-profit, non-partisan and co-educational university.”
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