By Cassie Sokoloff
Correspondent
103 people were killed and 235 were injured when an attacker detonated explosives concealed in an ambulance in Kabul on Jan. 27.
The bomber cleared police checkpoints by claiming to be transporting a patient to a nearby hospital. While stopped at a second police checkpoint, the attacker detonated the explosives, according to TIME Magazine.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Weeks earlier, the militant group killed 22 in a siege at the Intercontinental Hotel, a major hotel in Kabul, according to The New York Times.
While the Jan. 27 attack is the deadliest in recent months, violence has become frequent in Afghanistan’s capital city. Two separate attacks in May, one claimed by the Taliban, another by reported Taliban affiliate Haqqani, have killed more than 300 people total, according to BBC.
Hospital patients were close enough to hear and feel the shock from the blasts. A midwife at the nearby Malalai maternity hospital commented on the regularity of such attacks, according to the The New York Times.
“It has become normal in Afghanistan,” she said. “Every day, we hear these kinds of sounds.”
Masoom Stanekzai, the Administrator of Defense Ministry of Afghanistan, announced that four people have been detained in relation to the explosion, according to TIME.
Shah Hussain Murtazawi, the presidential spokesperson, has said that in response to the violence, the Afghan government flew flags at half-staff, made Jan. 29 a holiday and reserved Jan. 30 as a day of prayer for the victims, according to CNN.
The Afghan government also accused Pakistan of lending support to the attackers. Pakistan has denied such claims, according to BBC.
Afghanistan’s citizens are angry with their government’s failure to prevent violence. One man, whose son was killed in the explosion, cursed President Ashraf Ghani and his coalition partner Abdullah Abdullah, according to The New York Times.
“May God punish you, may Allah punish you both,” he said. “There is nothing left for me anymore — come kill me and my family too.”
The U.S. has responded with support to the Afghan government, according to CNN. Outside an airbase in Jordan the day following the explosion, Commander of the U.S. Central Command Gen. Joseph L. Votel spoke about the recent terrorist aggressions.
“(The attacks do) not impact our commitment to Afghanistan,” he said. “As horrible as this is, to me, it strengthens our resolve to help them move forward.”
