Attack on Kabul military academy kills 11 soldiers

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Eleven Afghan soldiers were killed in a Monday morning attack on a Kabul military academy, officials said.

Sixteen more were injured in the attack by five militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles. They attacked an entrance of the well-fortified Marshal Fahim Military University in Kabul's western suburbs.

Two of the attackers deliberately killed themselves with explosives, two others died in the fighting and one was captured, the office of Gen. Dawlat Waziri, Afghanistan's defense minister, said.

The attack began at 5 a.m. on Monday. Gunfire and heavy explosions at the site lasted for at least one hour, with smaller explosions at less frequent intervals afterward, The Guardian reported.

The Islamic State terror group, which is believed to still maintain a presence in the eastern province of Nangarhar, took responsibility for the attack.

Monday's attack is the third major assault in Kabul in eight days. At least 103 people died on Saturday when an explosives-laden ambulance penetrated security lines and exploded near the former interior ministry. An attack on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel the previous weekend killed at least 20. The Taliban took responsibility for those attacks.

An attack on the academy in October killed 15 cadets.