Dozens of students and foreign staff were trapped on the campus while militants attacked with bombs and automatic rifles at about 7:30 p.m. local time.
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KABUL, Afghanistan- At least five people were taken to Emergency Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, after an attack Wednesday night on the American University campus there, the hospital said in a tweet. This might change as the operation unfolds.
An Afghan Interior Ministry official and several on campus have described a gun attack.
An explosion occurred near the university and was accompanied by gunfire, according to journalists and witnesses speaking about the events on social media. They say security forces are still combing the campus in search of attackers.
Initial reports have two teams of attackers at the school, according to a US law enforcement source, but the exact number of assailants isn’t known. Spokesman Adam Stump said the forces had been embedded with the Afghan units.
The U.S. State Department made a statement after the attacks and acknowledged the reports on their official Twitter account, posting, “Reports of attack on American University in Kabul”.
Samin said he believes the attackers hit the gate at the university’s entrance with a vehicle.
The U.S. State department condemned the attack, calling it an attack on the future of Afghanistan. She said American officials are monitoring the situation, but declined to provide details.
The National Security Council issued this statement on Wednesday: “The United States condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack today on the American University of Afghanistan”.
“Help we are stuck inside AUAF and shooting flollowed [sic] by Explo this maybe my last tweets.”
Eyewitnesses who escaped the scene have revealed the incident started with gunfire then explosion.
He and other students barricaded themselves in the classroom.
Hossaini later successfully escaped along with nine students.
“As we were running I saw someone lying on the ground face down, they looked like they had been shot in the back”.
An AP photographer was in a classroom with 15 other students when he heard an explosion.
The assault comes after two professors at the university – an American and Australian – were kidnapped in the heart of Kabul earlier this month, the latest in a series of abductions of foreigners in the conflict-torn country.
A rash of kidnappings and Taliban bombings have heightened security fears in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
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The professors, who have been identified as Kevin King and Timothy Weeks, were abducted by men in military uniforms on August 7 as they traveled between their homes in Kabul and the university’s campus.
