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According to a spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Health, the shooting took place well past the morning hours local time on Monday. Latest reports say that at least 19 people died and 40 were injured. The three attackers are also dead, after one of them blew himself up while the other two were killed by security forces.
Norwegian special forces participated in the operation. Jørn Hammarbeck, press officer at the Armed Forces operational headquarters, reports to NRK. None of the Norwegian soldiers are said to have been injured in connection with the operation.
He will not go into detail about the efforts of the Norwegian forces, but writes in an email to NRK that they are now in the process of reporting and preparing for further efforts.
Norway has about 60 special forces that assist Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism.
Photo: Armed Forces
According to the online newspaper TOLO, the three attackers entered a conference room and began shooting around them.
An injured student is taken after the attack on Kabul University on Monday.
Photo: ATTACHMENT KOHSAR / AFP
“The enemies of Afghanistan, the enemies of education, have entered Kabul University,” said Tarig Arian, a spokesman for the country’s Interior Ministry.
The images that are now being broadcast by news agencies and on social media show horrific scenes inside classrooms and lecture halls, where students lie dead next to their textbooks.
It has been suggested that it was a terrorist attack in connection with a joint exhibition of Afghan and Iranian books being held at the university.
The Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan, Bahador Aminian, was among those scheduled to be present at the university today, in connection with the exhibition, in which around 40 Iranian publishers participate.
On Monday morning, heavily armed police officers stood outside the Kabul university campus.
Photo: OMAR SOBHANI / Reuters
IS attacks the Shiites
The security forces block access to the university and prevent the families of students who are in the area from contacting their families.
No one has claimed responsibility for today’s attack and the Taliban insurgency says they are not involved.
In 2019, a bomb exploded outside the entrance to the University campus, killing eight people, while an attack on the American University in Kabul killed 13 people in 2016.
Security forces will now be in control of the situation at Kabul University
Photo: ATTACHMENT KOHSAR / AFP
On October 24, 24 people, mostly young students, were killed in an attack on a school in a Shiite-dominated district of Kabul. It was probably a branch of the terrorist organization Islamic State IS that was behind this attack.
ISIS has declared war on the Shiite Muslim minority in Afghanistan, which equates to approx. 4 million or about 15 percent of the country’s population. Especially the Persian-speaking Hazaras are Shiite Muslims. They have traditionally had close ties to Iran, which has made them a target of the Islamic State.
Today’s attacks take place at a time when the Taliban and the Afghan government, with the support of the United States, are trying to find a peaceful solution, after more than 40 years of war in Afghanistan.
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