
A brazen, hours-long militant attack on the American University of Afghanistan ended early on Thursday after at least 12 people were killed and dozens were wounded, a government spokesman said.

According to Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi, the dead includes seven students, a security guard and two police officers.

He added that the majority of those killed were shot standing by windows and that among the 37 injured were seven police officers.

Earlier, Afghan special forces engaged in a fierce battle to clear the university of militants that left at least one US citizen injured when armed gunmen stormed the campus on Wednesday night.

Ahmad Mukhtar, a student who fled the scene, said the gunmen had got into the university buildings despite security measures including three or four armed guards and watchtowers.

He added that he believed the attack had started at the main gate into the compound.

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Rush to secure the campus: Afghan security forces member hurries to fight off the attack on the American University in the capital

Triage: A wounded person is treated in an ambulance after a complex Taliban attack on the campus of the American University in the Afghan capital Kabul

Reaction: Afghan security forces rush to respond to a complex Taliban attack on the campus of the American University in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday

Treatment: Dejan Panic, the program director at Kabul's Emergency Hospital, said five women were wounded in the attack and had been admitted. He said three were 'seriously' wounded, probably from automatic gunfire

Photo attributed to the attack on American University of Afghanistan in Kabul pic.twitter.com/EVunzOpyd3 — KAZEMI, Mustafa (@CombatJourno) August 24, 2016

Under attack: The American University of Afghanistan was attacked by gunmen who detonated an explosive device to gain entry to the campus

Battle: Afghan security officials secure the road leading to the American University of Afghanistan after a Taliban attack on the University

'I finished my class and was about to leave when I heard a few gunshots and a huge explosion, followed by more gunfire,' he said. 'I ran toward the emergency exit with other students, climbed the wall and jumped outside.'

Kabul police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told Reuters that the attack began with a car bomb and several attackers had entered the campus.

Islamist militant groups, mainly the Afghan Taliban and a local offshoot of Islamic State, have claimed a string of recent atrocities aimed at destabilizing the country and toppling the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani.

No one has claimed the university attack.

Earlier, the Afghan Health Ministry said one security guard was shot dead and hundreds of students and American faculty staff were left trapped inside, with many taking to social media to plead for help.

A huge plume of smoke was seen rising above the fortified campus as elite Afghan forces backed by American military observers surrounded the university compound and a fierce gun battle with the terrorists raged through the night.

Several gunmen, some wearing suicide vests, were involved in the attack, which began at 9.30am (ET) in the western suburbs of Kabul, the official said.

Many trapped inside managed to escape the onslaught of gunfire by jumping from second story windows.

Teachers and students still inside the university sheltered in place as security forces moved slowly through the campus buildings to clear them while witnesses reported militants threw grenades at them.

According to security officials they cut the power from the campus and deployed Apache attack helicopters.

According to one student, several of his classmates were killed and wounded while another posted on Facebook: 'We are stuck in university and under attack by Taliban they are killing us.'

Renowned Associated Press photographer Massoud Hossaini was one of those caught in the crossfire. He later managed to escape.

The US Embassy said it was working to account for all of its personnel, a State Department spokesperson told reporters.

On guard: Afghan security forces keep watch at the site of an attack in Kabul, on Wednesday night after explosions and gunfire rocked the American University of Afghanistan

The attack on AUAF comes 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 attack began when a car bomb exploded outside a school for the blind next door to the campus before at least one attacker fired at the university from that building, a police officer told The New York Times.

A 24-year-year-old student told CNN that the attack began as he was waiting for a lecture to start.

He heard a 'very enormous and harsh sound' 50 meters from the classroom and realized exactly what had happened.

'Everyone looked around the room looking for an escape,' the man told CNN. 'We have an emergency exit area in the corner of the campus. It's like a gate that opens when people need to get out of campus. Everyone was running out of there.'

As he was trying to flee he says he heard a second explosion. Both came from the entrance to the school.

'People were screaming for help. Everyone was screaming,' he said.

According to Afghan journalist Bilal Sawary, the Kabul's CDR rapid reaction unit informed him that they were dealing with a 'complex' attack and that special forces are 'en-route'.

Test: Afghan security officials secure the road leading to the American University of Afghanistan after a reported Taliban attack on the University in Kabul

Help: A man wounded is assisted in an ambulance after a complex Taliban attack on the campus of the American University

First response: Afghan men sit in an ambulance after they were rescued from the site of an attack

Communcation: At least 10 people were killed and 26 injured when Taliban insurgents attacked the University

'We have been notified of a complex attack on the American University on Darul-Aman Road,' the commander of Kabul police's quick reaction force told NBC News as the attack began, adding, 'We still don't know the exact nature of the attack.'

'My class was over and I was planning to leave, then suddenly I heard gunshots,' said Ahmad Mukhtar, a student at the university.

'I tried to find shelter, but a blast took place and I ran towards a wall and managed to escape by climbing the wall and injured my leg,' he told the LA Times.

'Several students have been killed and injured; many students and professors are stuck,' said another student according to the LA Times.

'Some managed to escape, but we are still here. Please help us.'

Fierce fighting: Afghan policemen wounded in a complex Taliban attack on the campus of the American University in the Afghan capital Kabul are treated

Prime target: Witnesses say they heard explosions and automatic gunfire as the attack began. Ambulances arrived at the campus in western Kabul, but it was not immediately clear how many people had been wounded

Saved: Afghan men walk towards an ambulance after they were rescued from the site of the attack

Ahmad Shaheer, a student at the university, told Reuters by telephone earlier that he was trapped inside the university.

'We are stuck inside our classroom and there are bursts of gunfire,' he said.

Witnesses say that multiple attackers have descended on the university campus and detonated an explosion at the gate to gain entry to the heavily fortified facility.

Photographer Hossaini hauntingly tweeted 'this maybe my last tweets'.

Terrifying: Massoud Hossaini - who has won the Pullitzer prize working with the Associated Press - updated his Twitter feed to say he was injured in the attack and that he feared he might die at the hands of the militants attacking the American University of Afghanistan

Safe and sound: Award-winning photographer Massoud Hossaini survived the attack after earlier tweeting in fear of his life. His hand was injured by broken glass shattered during the attack

Hossaini said he was in a classroom with nine students when he heard an explosion on the southern flank of the campus.

FREEDOM THROUGH LEARNING: THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN AFGHANISTAN The American University in Afghanistan was opened in 2005 by former first lady Laura Bush who flew to Kabul specifically to cut the red ribbon on the school. It is Afghanistan's only private, not-for-profit and co-educational university and opened to its first 50 students in 2006. Currently has 1,700 full and part-students and has been responsible for 29 Fulbright Scholars and is partnered with Stanford, Georgetown and the University of California. Tuition per semester is roughly $3,220 in American dollars. The current campus of the university is on the site of the former American International School of Kabul. Two employees of the school were killed by a Taliban gun and bomb attack in Kabul in January 2014 along with 21 others. Advertisement

'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 into the classroom, pushing chairs and desks against the door, and staying on the floor.

Hossaini and about nine students managed to escape from the campus through a northern 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 nine students took refuge in a residential house near the campus.

Ahmad Shaheer, a student at the university, told Reuters by telephone during the attack that he was trapped inside the university.

'We are stuck inside our classroom and there are bursts of gunfire,' he said.

Another student told NBC News that he had only just finished his class and was walking with friends when gunfire erupted and a 'massive explosion' threw them to the ground.

'We got up, and in the midst of dust ... kept running to the back of the building and climbed the walls and jumped down on the street,' said the student.

'I am in a taxi and on my way to hospital.'

Another victim who managed to escape the shooting gave his name to the New York Times only as Fahim.

He said the sound of gunfire sent many running for the exit and that it immediately followed a loud explosion.

Fahim told the New York Times that two of his friends would be seeking medical attention after one broke his leg and they other shot in the back.

Relief: CBS reporter Ahmad Mukhtar tweeted about his lucky escape from the university

Cry for help: Political science student Ejaz Malikzada said that he managed to escape the attack but that his friends and other students were calling him asking for help as security forces battled the militants

Another man, Qudratullah Waziri said that he was desperately waiting for news of his brother who he last spoke to on the phone while trapped inside.

Talking to CNN, chemistry professor Ahmad Samin said that after the explosion the lights went out.

'It was very dark, and everyone was running. Everyone started screaming,' said US citizen Samin to CNN.

'It was the scariest moment in my life. I was just thinking about my son and daughter who are in the United States.'

Samin told CNN he believes the militants struck the gate at the university's entrance with a car bomb.

The president of the university Dr. Mark English earlier confirmed that the campus was under attack, saying 'We are trying to assess the situation.'

Battle: Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary tweeted that the militants are throwing hand grenades at their attackers as special forces close in on their positions

Resolution: As the fight for control unfolded, Sarwary said that special forces were trying to free students and faculty members on campus

'Several gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul and there are reports of gunfire and explosions,' another official said. 'They are inside the compound and there are foreign professors along with hundreds of students.'

The American State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs issued a statement on Wednesday that people should 'exercise caution, avoid unnecessary movement in the area and monitor news for updates'.

Two professors, an American and an Australian were abducted from the university - where 40 percent of students are women - on August 8th, when five gunmen dressed in Afghan military uniforms kidnapped them at gunpoint from their SUV.

Taliban insurgents control large swathes of Afghanistan, and local armed forces are struggling to contain them, especially in the provinces of Helmand to the south and Kunduz to the north.

NATO ended its combat mission in December 2014, but thousands of troops remain to train and assist Afghan forces, while several thousand more U.S. soldiers are engaged in a separate mission focusing on al Qaeda and Islamic State.



