Militants attack American University in Afghanistan, 1 dead

KABUL — 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.

Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said early Thursday that police operations at the university were completed about 10 hours after the attack had begun, though officers remained on campus.

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.

The university opened for enrollment 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.

Ahmad Jawad, a police officer at the site of the attack, said a car bomb exploded in front of a school for the blind, which is next to the American University.