At least 13 people, including seven students, were killed during a 10-hour assault by gunmen on the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.
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Mr. Mujahid, the police spokesman, said there were about 700 students inside the campus at the time of the attack.
Two gunmen were shot dead, but a professor, seven students, three policemen and two security guards were also killed, according to the news agency.
Reuters quoted a police official at the scene as saying that the fight was over and at least two attackers had been killed.
A group of militants launched a coordinated attack on the American University in Kabul this evening.
Wednesday’s attack came the day after a US service member was killed by a roadside bomb during a patrol in the hotly-contested southern province of Helmand.
Officials say the attack started around 7 p.m. local time when a auto stocked with explosives was detonated in front of the university’s security wall. The siege of the university lasted nearly nine hours, before police killed the two assailants around 3.30 am, he added.
More than 150 students who had been trapped in university buildings had been rescued by special police units. A report issued in 2015 said that the university at that point enrolled 1,151 students in degree programs and 934 students in professional development certificate programs, and employed global faculty and staff from 15 countries.
“Condolences to the bereaved families and prayers with the injured”. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the department is accounting for its personnel and working to locate and assist USA citizens affected by the attack. “I heard explosions and gunfire is going on close by”, a desperate student told AFP by telephone. The university administration is working closely with relevant authorities to assess the damage and to ensure that everyone is accounted for.
No one has taken responsibility for the university raid.
Despite its name, few Americans study at the school, a senior US State Department official told CNN.
“As we were running, I saw someone lying on the ground face down”, he told AP.
The students then barricaded themselves into the classroom. Hossaini said at least two grenades were thrown into the classroom, wounding several of his classmates. The shots broke the windows, and Hossani fell and cut his hands on the glass.
Hossaini and about nine students later managed to escape from the campus through an emergency gate.
On August 7, two professors, one American and one Australian, at the American University were kidnapped by a criminal group according to ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.
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“They thought they could win by killing these people who are educating people”, Malikzada said, “but I am sure of their own failure, and I am sure that we will continue fighting back by educating our people”. The uptick in violence comes as the Taleban escalate nationwide attacks, underscoring the worsening security situation since North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014.
