Afghan forces comb American university for suspected gunmen

KABUL, Afghanistan - Security officers in Afghanistan are combing through the American University looking for gunmen that opened fire at the campus on Wednesday.

One person died and two others were injured in the attacks that took place at 6:30 am local time. 

Officials said that a car bomb was detonated and then gunfire was opened in the campus.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi has reportedly said, “We are only rescuing students at the moment. Our forces have killed two attackers and they are looking for others.”

Soon after the attacks, elite Afghan forces surrounded the walled compound and made their way into the campus. They are still combing the second and third floors of the building where they suspect more terrorists are hiding. 

Hearing the blast and the gunshots, many students reportedly jumped off the buildings and injured themselves.

The Pulitzer-winning Associated Press photographer Massoud Hossaini was one of the many who found themselves trapped inside the university complex. “Help we are stuck inside AUAF and shooting followed by explosion this may be my last tweet,” he said tweeting about the ordeal.

Casualty figures are expected to rise as operations continue in the darkened campus where electricity has been cut off.

So far, 18 injured people have been admitted in Kabul's Emergency Hospital. Dejan Panic, the program director of the hospital has said that three of them were "seriously wounded, probably from automatic gunfire.”

The U.S. said it was closely monitoring the situation and that its coalition forces were assisting the Afghan government in tracking down the attackers. 

State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau informed that the U.S. embassy is carrying out a head count of its personnel and citizens. 

"An attack on the university is an attack on the future of Afghanistan," she said condemning the attacks. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks as yet.

The attack is second in the row for the University which declares itself to be a non-profit, non-partisan co-educational institution has over 1700 students on its rolls.

Three weeks ago, one American and one Australian professor, were kidnapped at gunpoint just outside the campus.