22 dead after ISIS attack on Kabul uni

At least 22 people were killed when attackers stormed one of Afghanistan’s main universities on Monday, an hours-long assault claimed by Islamic State group.

A victim of the Kabul university attack is transferred from an ambulance at Isteqlal Hospital in Kabul on Monday. Picture: AFP

At least 22 people were killed when attackers stormed one of Afghanistan’s main universities on Monday, detonating a suicide bomb and spraying classrooms with bullets in an hours-long assault claimed by Islamic State group.

The attack on Kabul University, which came as violence surges across Afghanistan, marked the second time in under two weeks that an educational institution in the capital was targeted by ISIS.

Survivors described horrific scenes after a suicide bomber struck inside the campus about 11am. Two gunmen then opened fire, officials said, sending hundreds of students fleeing and scrambling over perimeter walls.

Fraidoon Ahmadi, a 23-year-old student, was in a class when gunfire broke out. “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.

He and other students were besieged for more than two hours before being rescued.

Images online showed what appeared to be the bodies of slain students lying by desks and chairs.

“They opened fire ... all my classmates were lying in blood, either dead or wounded,” one student told a local television channel, saying he escaped by climbing out a window.

ISIS said two of its fighters carried out the attack. “Two Islamic State fighters managed to attack a gathering set up by the Afghan government at the Kabul University for the graduation of judges and investigators after completing a course at the university,” the group’s propaganda arm, Amaq, said.

“The two fighters targeted the graduates with automatic weapons ... then clashed with security forces.”

The Ministry of Public Health said at least 22 people were killed and 22 more wounded. Officials said most of the ­casualties were students.

It was not immediately clear how the attackers got their weapons into the university, which has security checks.

Officials said an investigation was under way.

It took Afghan security forces, supported by US troops, several hours to clear the campus and declare the attack over.

The Taliban said it was not involved, but Vice-President Amrullah Saleh blamed the insurgent group and their supporters in Pakistan, even as he acknowledged an intelligence failure. We “will correct our intelligence failures. But the Talibs, their like-minded satanic allies in the next door won’t be ever able to wash their Conscience of this stinking & non justifiable ­attack on Kabul uni,” he tweeted.

Afghan authorities routinely accuse Islamabad of backing the Taliban, charges Pakistan denies. Pakistan’s foreign ministry condemned Monday’s attack, which it said was a “despicable” assault on a seat of learning.

At the UN, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he “strongly condemns the horrific attack” at the university. “This appalling attack … is an assault on the human right to education,” he said in a statement.

President Ashraf Ghani vowed to “take revenge for this senseless attack and for any drop of innocent students’ blood spilled today.”

AFP