Gunmen attack American University in Kabul, Afghanistan
Aug 24, 2016, 8:50 AM | Updated: 2:14 pm
The American University in Kabul, Afghanistan came under attack Wednesday, according to the American University president. Officials said one person killed and almost 20 injured. The firing stopped after about an hour.
Police described the attack as “complex.”
An official with the Ministry of Public Health, said a guard employed by the university had been killed and that the wounded included a foreign teacher.
University President Mark English told the Associated Press that security forces were on the scene immediately after the attack began.
Students barricaded themselves in classrooms and witnesses said they heard gunshots and explosions.
It was unknown how many students or staff members were inside or who the attackers were. Later, ambulances began arriving to take the wounded for treatment.
A Wounded person is treated in an ambulance after a complex Taliban attack on the campus of the American University in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
War correspondent Mustafa Kazemi tweeted:
Photo attributed to the attack on American University of Afghanistan in Kabul pic.twitter.com/EVunzOpyd3
— Mustafa Kazemi (@CombatJourno) August 24, 2016
Fighting ongoing inside American University in Kabul within a building on the left side of main entrance.
— Mustafa Kazemi (@CombatJourno) August 24, 2016
More ambulances are arriving at Emergency Hospital with wounded from the attack on American University of Afghanistan
— Mustafa Kazemi (@CombatJourno) August 24, 2016
An Associated Press photographer tweeted around 8 a.m. Arizona time that he was trapped inside.
https://twitter.com/Massoud151/status/768460104807120900
Another journalist, CBS News’ Ahmad Mukhtar, got away safely.
#AUAF under attack. I along with my friends escaped and several other of of my friends and professors trapped inside.
— Ahmad Mukhtar (@AhMukhtar) August 24, 2016
Police spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said police and intelligence agency personnel were at the campus, on the western outskirts of Kabul. Initially, police believed there was just one assailant.
The attack comes two weeks after two university staffers were kidnapped from their car by unknown gunmen. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
