Attack on US university in Kabul, 16 die

Kabul, August 25 

Sixteen persons were killed after militants stormed the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, officials said today, in a nearly 10-hour raid that prompted anguished pleas for help from trapped students.

Explosions and gunfire rocked the campus after the attack began Wednesday evening, just weeks after two university professors, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the school.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the assault, but it occurred as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide summer offensive. — AFP