Earlier on Wednesday, the Afghan news channel TOLOnews reported that armed assailants had breached the university after setting off explosives outside.
Students and professors have been taken hostage by the gunmen.
#Afghanistan. The American university in #Kabul currently under attack. 5 wounded trasferred to @emergency_ong hospital.
— Pajhwok Afghan News (@pajhwok) 24 августа 2016 г.
"Several gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul and there are reports of gunfire and explosions," an Afghan Interior Ministry official told Reuters earlier in the day. "They are inside the compound and there are foreign professors along with hundreds of students."
Darul Aman street right now #Kabulblast @NDSAfghanistan please help those stuck in @AUAfghanistan pic.twitter.com/q1yTZ6S8Ui
— Qudratullah Rajavi (@Qodratollah) 24 августа 2016 г.
#BREAKING: Explosions & gunfire reported at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul pic.twitter.com/9Y82LhbeNK
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) 24 августа 2016 г.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.