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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 3 November 2020
IS attack on Afghan university leaves 22 dead, 22 wounded

By RAHIM FAIEZ and KATHY Five hours into the fight-
GANNON ing on Monday, sporadic
Associated Press grenade explosions and
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) automatic weapons fire
— Islamic State militants in still echoed down the
Afghanistan stormed Kabul empty streets surround-
University on Monday as it ing the university's fenced
hosted a book fair attend- compound. Afghan troops
ed by the Iranian ambas- stood guard.
sador, sparking an hours- Ahmad Samim, a univer-
long gun battle and leav- sity student, told journal-
ing at least 22 dead and 22 ists he saw militants armed
wounded at the war-torn with pistols and Kalashnikov
country's largest school. assault rifles firing at the
Most of the casualties were school, the country's old-
students and there were est with some 17,000 stu-
fears the death toll could dents. He said the attack
climb further with some of happened at the univer-
the wounded said to be in sity's eastern side, where its
critical condition. law and journalism faculty
It was the second attack on teach.
an educational institution Afghan media reported
in Kabul in as many weeks. that a book exhibition was
The Taliban promptly issued Afghan police patrol at the site of an attack at Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, being held at the university
a statement denying they Nov. 2, 2020. Associated Press and attended by a number
took part in the assault, of dignitaries at the time of
which came as the insur- tomatic rifle fire could be gathered at the campus, tal's mostly Shiite neighbor- the shooting. None of the
gents continue peace talks heard. Scores of Afghan according to the SITE Intelli- hood of Dasht-e-Barchi dignitaries were reported
with representatives of Ka- special forces surrounded gence Group, which moni- that killed at least 24 stu- hurt. While Afghan officials

bul's U.S.-backed govern- the campus, shepherding tors terror online messaging. dents and wounded more declined to discuss the
ment, with the aim to help teachers and students to The IS statement claimed than 100 others on Oct. 24. bookfair, Iran's semiofficial
the United States finally safety. The chaos subsided only two of its fighters were The peace negotiations be- ISNA news agency report-
withdraw from Afghani- as the sun set over the Af- involved, and posted their tween the Taliban and the ed Sunday that Iranian Am-
stan. Later in the day, the Is- ghan capital and the In- photographs, which con- Kabul government, known bassador Bahador Amin-
lamic State group claimed terior Ministry's spokesman, flicted with the Afghan au- as intra-Afghan talks, were ian and cultural attaché
responsibility for the attack. Tariq Arian, said all three thorities' report of three at- part of a deal Washington Mojtaba Noroozi were to
As the attack unfolded, attackers involved in the tackers. The claim did not signed with the insurgents inaugurate the fair, which
students and teachers assault were killed. indicate the IS intended to in February. They are taking was hosting some 40 Irani-
were seen fleeing the part The Islamic State group said target the Iranian envoy or place in the Gulf Arab state an publishers. Iranian state
of the campus where law it targeted newly gradu- the book fair. of Qatar, and are seen as television reported that the
and journalism schools are ated "judges and investiga- Last week, IS also claimed a Afghanistan's best chance attack occurred, but did
located, while hand gre- tors belonging to the apos- brutal assault on a tutoring at peace — though daily not offer information on its
nades exploded and au- tate Afghan government" center in the Afghan capi- bloodshed has continued. officials. q

Snowden and his wife seek to be Russian-U.S. dual nationals

MOSCOW (AP) — Former pecting a child. According ality after Russia earlier this
U.S. security contractor Ed- to Snowden's lawyer, Ana- year relaxed its strict citi-
ward Snowden said Mon- toly Kucherena, the child, a zenship laws. Previously the
day that he and his wife boy, will be born in Decem- law required foreigners to
intend to apply for Rus- ber and will have Russian renounce other nationali-
sian citizenship without re- citizenship. ties in order to get Russian
nouncing their U.S. citizen- "After years of separa- citizenship.
ship. tion from our parents, my Snowden added in another
Snowden, a former con- wife and I have no desire tweet that the couple plans
tractor with the U.S. Na- to be separated from our to be "raising our son with
tional Security Agency, has son. That's why, in this era all the values of the Ameri-
been living in Russia since of pandemics and closed ca we love — including the
2013 to escape prosecu- borders, we're applying for freedom to speak his mind"
tion in the U.S. after leaking dual U.S.-Russian citizen- and that he looked forward
classified documents de- ship," Snowden said in a to the day he can return to
tailing government surveil- tweet Monday. the U.S., "so the whole fam-
lance programs. He was Kucherena told the Inter- ily can be reunited."
granted permanent resi- fax news agency that the Snowden, who has kept a
dency last month, his Rus- process of preparing the low profile in Russia and oc-
sian lawyer said. necessary paperwork for casionally criticized Russian
Snowden's wife Lindsay getting Snowden a Russian government policies on so- In this Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 file photo, a video technician
Mills, an American who has passport will start soon. cial media, said last year monitors a computer screen as National Security Agency leaker
been living with him in Rus- He will be able to get a that he was willing to return Edward Snowden appears on a live video feed broadcast from
sia, announced last week Russian passport without to the U.S. if he's guaran- Moscow at an event sponsored by the ACLU Hawaii in Honolulu.
that the couple are ex- renouncing his U.S. nation- teed a fair trial.q Associated Press