A foreign professor is among the many wounded in the firefight between the attackers and Afghan special police.
Advertisement
At least 13 people were killed and dozens wounded in an overnight assault on the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.
New York Times reporter Mujib Masah quoted a police officer at the scene as saying a auto bomb had been detonated in front of a school for the blind, which is next to the American University, attackers then entered that school, and fired at the American University from there. Two assailants then began shooting at students, killing seven, before entering the university’s main building, where they battled security forces.
The university in Afghanistan that was the scene of a deadly attack Wednesday has a significant Austin connection. University President Mark English told The Associated Pres.
The attack has ended, a senior police officer said Thursday, after several people were killed.
The U.S. military has identified the soldier who was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday.
At least 13 people are dead and dozens more injured after a almost nine-hour attack on the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul on Wednesday.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. The group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid only told the media, however, that they were “investigating”.
During the meeting, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani spoke by phone with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and asked for serious and practical measures against the terrorists organizing the attack.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer was also trapped among hundreds of students in the American University here where a terror attack took place on Wednesday (Aug 24).
Sporadic gunfire could be heard through the night and, before dawn, police said the operation had concluded.
The interior ministry said the fatalities included policemen, a university guard and a guard from the neighbouring vocational school for the visually impaired.
Witnesses said the gunmen entered the university easily, despite the tight security measures, including watchtowers and armed guards.
The university was closed on Thursday and it’s not clear when it will reopen, the AP reports. “Condolences to the bereaved families and prayers with the injured”.
The growing number of students attending university, especially women, is widely hailed as one of the biggest successes in Afghanistan since the USA -led invasion in 2001 toppled the Taliban regime.
University authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.
The US said it was closely monitoring the situation in Kabul following the university attack and that forces from the US-led coalition were involved in the response in an advise-and-assist role.
Advertisement
The U.S. State Department condemned what it called “an attack on the future of Afghanistan”.
