Security guard killed, 20 injured in American University attack in Afghanistan

Afghan security forces killed two gunmen who attacked the American University in Kabul, police said early on Thursday, ending an assault on the compound that killed at least one person and sent hundreds of students fleeing in panic.

The attack at around 6:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday began with a large explosion that officials said was a car bomb followed by gunfire, as suspected militants battled into the complex where foreign staff and pupils were working.

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Elite Afghan forces surrounded the walled compound and eventually worked their way inside, according to a senior interior ministry official.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard through the night and, before dawn, police said the operation had concluded.

"The fight is over and at least two attackers are killed," a police official at the scene told Reuters. "Right now a clearance operation is ongoing by a criminal technique team. More details will be announced soon."

Information on casualties remained uncertain, but the Afghan Public health Ministry said one guard was killed and at least 21 people were wounded, six critically.

No foreigners were reported among the wounded.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told Reuters earlier on Thursday that security forces had rescued around 500 students from the university, which is popular with Afghanistan's elite.

Desperate escapes

Terrified students recounted barricading themselves in classrooms or jumping from the second floor in order to escape. Most appeared to have got away.

"Many students jumped from the second floor, some broke their legs and some hurt their head trying to escape," Abdullah Fahimi, a student who escaped, told Reuters. He injured his ankle making the leap.

"We were in the class when we heard a loud explosion followed by gunfire. It was very close. Some students were crying, others were screaming," he said.

Ahmad Mukhtar, who also fled, said the gunmen had got into the university buildings despite security measures including armed guards and watchtowers.

"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."

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

No one has taken responsibility for the university raid.

'An attack on the future of Afghanistan'

Elizabeth Trudeau, media officer with the U.S. State Department, said U.S. embassy officials in Kabul and NATO counterparts are monitoring the situation.

"An attack on the university is an attack on the future of Afghanistan," said Trudeau.

The Pentagon said U.S. military advisers were on the ground withAfghan security forces at the university. Spokesman Adam Stump saidthe forces had been embedded with the Afghan units.

The attack comes two weeks after two university staff, who are American and Australian, were kidnapped from their car by unknown gunmen. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

The university was established in 2006 to offer liberal arts courses modelled on the U.S. system. More than 1,000 students are currently enrolled in degree courses.

All of which makes it a prime target, Omar Samad, former Afghan ambassador to Canada, told CBC News.

"This is Afghanistan's top, elite higher education institution and it has an American brand, it's funded mostly by American private donations and by Afghan-American donations," he said.

Samad said whichever group is responsible wants to "instill fear and terrorize the population and also send a message that they're still a force to be reckoned with" and likely wants to make such a statement just a few weeks ahead of the next UN General Assembly session.

The Taliban has been fighting to overthrow the Kabul government for 15 years, and regards foreign civilians as legitimate targets.

Taliban insurgents control large swaths of Afghanistan, and Afghan security 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.