At least eight people were wounded yesterday when gunmen stormed Kabul University during an Iranian book fair, firing shots and sending students fleeing, Afghan officials and witnesses said.
“The enemies of Afghanistan, the enemies of education ... have entered Kabul University,” Afghan Ministry of the Interior spokesman Tariq Arian told reporters. “The security forces are in the area trying to control the situation. They are advancing carefully to prevent any harm to the students.”
No group immediately took responsibility for the attack, although the Taliban issued a statement saying they were not involved.
Hamid Obaidi, a spokesman for the Afghan Minister of Higher Education, said that gunfire erupted when government officials were expected to arrive for the opening of the book event.
Arian said several people had been rescued from the university campus.
Masooma Jafari, a deputy spokeswoman for the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, said that eight people, including students and teachers, had been taken to hospital.
Students spoke of chaos and confusion as gunfire erupted.
“We were studying inside our classrooms when suddenly we heard a burst of gunfire inside the university,” student Fraidoon Ahmadi, 23, said.
“Some university students have fled ... it is chaotic and students are terrified,” he added.
Ahmadi said he and several other students were besieged for more than two hours before being rescued.
“We were very scared and we thought it could be the last day of our lives ... boys and girls were shouting, praying and crying for help,” he said.
“I have no words to express how we survived today’s attack by gunmen on our university,” he said, adding that there were about 800 students in the social sciences faculty itself where he studied.
Security forces blocked off roads leading to the campus as frantic families tried to reach their children at the university.
While Afghan officials declined to discuss the fair, the semiofficial Iranian Students’ News Agency on Sunday reported that Iranian Ambassador Bahador Aminian and cultural attache Mojtaba Noroozi were scheduled to inaugurate the fair, which would host about 40 Iranian publishers.
Additional reporting by AP
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