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American University of Afghanistan attacked by gunman in Kabul American University attack: one dead and 14 injured in Afghanistan
(about 2 hours later)
Gunmen have attacked the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, with explosions and gunfire reported inside the campus, an Afghan interior ministry official and a student said. At least one student has been killed and 14 wounded after militants attacked the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, trapping students in classrooms amid explosions and automatic gunfire.
“Several gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul and there are reports of gunfire and explosions,” the official said on Wednesday. “They are inside the compound and there are foreign professors along with hundreds of students.” Witnesses said the attackers blew up an outer wall before bursting into the university compound around 7pm on Wednesday night.
Ahmad Shaheer, a student at the university, told Reuters by telephone that he was trapped inside the university. Student Mohammed Khalid Feroz told the Guardian he was playing basketball at the university gym when he heard the first explosion and rushed to escape with other students. He returned to look for his friends only to find a professor bleeding profusely from his throat.
“We are stuck inside our classroom and there are bursts of gunfire,” he said. “He was badly injured. I took him to a dorm,” said Feroz, who had attempted to provide first aid.
More details soon … Ten minutes after the attack began, dozens of officers from the Afghan Special Police Force (CRU) cordoned off the scene. The ministry of interior’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told The Guardian they were heading inside to look for the “terrorists”.
Outside the university, a crying man, who declined to give his name, said his brother had called him from inside the university after suffering three gunshot wounds. “I don’t know where [in the university] he is,” the man said.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes just weeks after two university professors - an American and an Australian - were kidnapped at gunpoint nearby. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Many students were trapped inside the university during the attack, and tweeted or texted desperate calls for help.
Massoud Hossaini, a photographer for the Associated Press, was in class when the attack began, and tweeted: “Help we are stuck inside AUAF and shooting flollowed [sic] by Explo this maybe my last tweets.”
Hossaini, who was in class at the time of the attack, managed to escape with nine other students through the northern emergency gate.
Describing the attack to the AP, he said: “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.”
The students then barricaded themselves into the classroom, before escaping through an emergency exit.
“As we were running I saw someone lying on the ground face down, they looked like they had been shot in the back,” he said.
Local hospital staff said that at least one person had been killed and 14 wounded – a figure that is expected to rise.