At least 20 students were killed and six were wounded during an armed attack on Kabul University’s campus after three gunmen stormed the building in the Afghan capital on Monday morning, the Afghan government and a security official said.
An Afghan soldier on the scene also told The National that while the campus had been evacuated, many of those wounded remained inside as police faced off the assailants and eventually killed them all.
The Afghan health ministry sajd at least six people were injured, including a professor and a student although that number is likely to go up.
Blasts continue to be heard sporadically as attackers and security forces faced off more than five hours since the attack began.
Students posted accounts of the attack on social media as police surrounded the sprawling campus.
“Please God give me patience. My classmates died or were injured before my eyes,” one of the students posted on his Facebook page. “We have also been taken as hostages. No security has arrived.”
The Interior Ministry said there was an explosion before shots were fired.
Kabul University had been receiving threats for nearly three years, the injured professor told The National on condition of anonymity.
“About three years ago, we were told to be very cautious because the Taliban were trying to attack the university,” he said.
The university buildings are fitted with heavy metal doors and windows for such situations and staff and students had been locked in by security forces, the professor said.
However, other witnesses reported that the assailants had managed to enter the law faculty building.
In a Tweet, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group was not behind the university attack.
Video posted on Twitter by the Afghanistan’s largest broadcaster, Tolo news, showed students fleeing as gunshots are heard in the background.
Tolo quoted sources saying the attack began as Afghan and Iranian officials were inaugurating a book exhibition at the university.
Kabul University’s Vice-Chancellor for Students Affairs Faisal Amin has said that all students have been evacuated since.
This is Kabul’s second attack on Monday. A bomb blast in the Khwaja Sabz Posh district wounded a member of the security forces and a civilian. Kabul police said the explosion was caused by a magnetic roadside bomb that detonated at about 7.35am.
Last year, a bomb outside of the Kabul University campus gates killed eight people. In 2016, gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul, killing 13.
Last month, ISIS sent a suicide bomber into an education centre in the capital’s predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, killing 24 students.
