Deadly explosion and gunfire rocks Afghan university

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN— The American University of Afghanistan in Kabul came under attack by bomb and gunfire on Wednesday night, in a siege that stretched for hours as pockets of people trapped on campus tried to escape.

The Afghan Health Ministry said that a security guard was killed in the attack and that at least 26 people had been wounded. But near midnight, though the sounds of gunfire had ebbed, there were still occasional outbursts, and officials said they were unsure how many attackers might still be alive, and how many people might still be pinned down, hurt or killed.

Afghan security forces massed around the campus, a guarded compound in the western part of the capital, after initial reports of an explosion and gunfire. From within, trapped people began taking to social media to ask for help and report what was going on around them.

The university opened for enrol- ment in 2006 to both men and women, and quickly became a prestigious education choice for some of Afghanistan’s elites, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees taught in English.

It was praised by senior U.S. officials as a sign of Afghanistan’s bright future, and as such was an obvious symbol of Western ambitions for the country — exactly the kind of symbol the Taliban and other militants have come to pursue as targets.

One after another, such places — high-end hotels, restaurants fre- quented by foreigners, even cultural centres where young Afghans performed arts — have come under attack, limiting the movement of expatriates in Kabul and keeping the local population in constant fear of unpredictable violence.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which was the second directed at the university this month.

On Aug. 7, two professors — an American and an Australian, both men — were abducted from a vehicle near the campus.