U.S. university attacked in Kabul, leaving one dead and 18 injured

KABUL — Militants attacked the American University of Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one person and wounding another 18, officials said.

AP photographer Massoud Hossaini was in a classroom with 15 students when he heard an explosion on the southern flank of the campus.

“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,” Hossaini said, adding that he fell on the glass and cut his hands.

The students then barricaded themselves inside the classroom, pushing chairs and desks against the door, and staying on the floor. Hossaini said at least two grenades were thrown into the classroom, wounding several of his classmates.

Hossaini and about nine students later managed to escape from the campus through an emergency gate.

“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.

Hossaini and the other students took refuge in a residential house near the campus, and were later moved to safety by Afghan security forces.

Hedayatullah Stanikzai, 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.

Dejan Panic, the program director at Kabul’s Emergency Hospital, said 18 people wounded in the attack, including five women, had been admitted. He said three were “seriously” wounded, probably from automatic gunfire.

Police spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said security forces were conducting a clearing operation to track down the “terrorists.” He said it was still not clear if there were one or two attackers.

The attack on the university came two weeks after two university staff, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped from their car by unknown gunmen. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

The university was established in 2006 to offer liberal arts courses modelled on the U.S. system. More than 1,000 students are currently enrolled in degree courses.

The U.S. State Department condemned “an attack on the future of Afghanistan.”