The American University of Afghanistan was attacked on Wednesday evening in Kabul.
Advertisement
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the assault, but it occurred as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide summer offensive against the Western-backed government. Some who were still in touch with their relatives trapped in the darkness inside expressed frustration that the security forces had not reached them hours after the raid begun.
The security forces were working slowly and very carefully because there was no electricity within the university, according to a police criminal investigation official, who requested to remain anonymous.
The identity of the attackers is not clear till now, said a police spokesman.
A auto bomb had exploded outside a school for the blind next door before at least one attacker fired at the university campus from that school building, a police officer at the scene told The New York Times.
The violence came as the Taliban are escalating nationwide attacks.
The attack, apparently the first major militant assault on a prominent university in Afghanistan, has cast a pall on the education sector, seen as a rare symbol of hope for the country’s burgeoning youth at a time of rising insecurity.
Taliban insurgents control large swaths of Afghanistan, and Afghan security forces are struggling to contain them, especially in the provinces of Helmand to the south and Kunduz to the north. “He shot at me and shattered the glass”, he said.
Journalist Mustafa Kazemi described the sounds of multiple ambulance sirens being heard across Kabul.
The explosion tore down a wall and created a breach, through which two other armed men entered the campus, where more than 750 students and teachers were present. Hossaini said at least two grenades were thrown into the classroom, wounding several of his classmates.
In this month, It is the second time that the university or its staff have been targeted by the militants.
Members of the elite police force (CRU) quickly surrounded the campus as the attack unfolded and cordoned off the area.
The attack comes two weeks after two university staff – one American, one Australian – were kidnapped by unknown gunmen.
“We strongly condemn the attack on American University in Kabul”, the Prime Minister tweeted. Then he and other students barricaded themselves in the classroom using chairs and desks before making a dash for safety outside.
The 1,700-student school was founded in 2004, and classes started there in 2006.
Advertisement
Some, however, have managed to escape.
