Abu Zolfiqar
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Large bomb goes off in Bangkok
- Thread starter Lux de Veritas
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Styx
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you didn't demolish anything. Islamic Terrorism is real, targeting other faiths and their places of worship is what they do.Not relevant to your point - which I just DEMOLISHED simply by posting links
Worshippers killed in Pakistan church bombings - Al Jazeera English
78 killed, over 100 injured in Peshawar church attack - The Express Tribune
this bombing could well be the work of jihadis, or, could even be the "red shirts" , much less likely though.
Bang Galore
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That is correct. Ayodhya was Rama's capital btw. The Ramayana is also deeply embedded in Laos, Cambodia & Indonesia. Almost all Indonesian names have a Sanskrit component & their national airline is named after Garuda, the eagle which is the mount of Vishnu.
Reashot Xigwin
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Very interesting ! Thanks, friend.
Styx
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no, but this was done by jihadis:
2014 Peshawar school massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I don't understand what you're trying to defend here, you wahhab much, bro ?
Cossack25A1
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This thread is slowly getting derailed by recent posts...
Carlosa
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Trail goes cold in hunt for Bangkok shrine bomber
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre1 hour ago
A woman pays her respects at the Erawan shrine, the site of Monday's deadly blast, in central Bangkok, …
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police said on Wednesday they had still not established the nationality or whereabouts of the man they suspect bombed a Bangkok shrine, killing at least 20 people, suggesting the trail had gone cold after he was captured by CCTV at the scene.
Authorities said they were keeping watch for the suspect at the country's borders, but police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told a news conference that it was not clear how many people were involved in the attack or if they were still in the country.
"I don't suspect one person, I suspect many people," he said. "I am confident that there are Thais involved but I am not saying it is just Thais or that there are foreigners."
On Tuesday, a day after the bombing at the popular Erawan shrine in the heart of Bangkok, grainy closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage was released showing a young man dumping a backpack at the scene and walking away.
The government says the attack was aimed at wrecking the economy, which depends heavily on tourism.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, which according to the latest official toll killed 20 people - more than half of them foreigners from several Asian countries - and wounded more than 120.
Deputy police chief Jaktip Chaijinda said earlier that investigators believed the man on the video resembled a foreigner more than a Thai.
At least two foreigners have been interviewed in connection with the blast, police said.
Jangling nerves in the city on Tuesday, a small explosive was thrown from a bridge towards a river pier, sending a plume of water into the air, but no one was hurt.
A government spokesman initially said there were "patterns" linking the two bombs in that both used the explosive TNT, but police chief Somyot said no direct connection between them had been established.
Police Major General Pornchai Suteerakune, commander of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, said the bodies of almost all those killed at the shrine had wounds inflicted by ball bearings that were packed into the bomb.
The shrine, a blood-spattered scene of charred motorbikes and debris after the blast, was reopened on Wednesday.
NO CLEAR TELL-TALE SIGNS
The footage of the young man with a yellow T-shirt and shaggy dark hair shows him entering the shrine compound with a backpack on, sitting down against a railing and then slipping out of the bag's straps.
He then stands up and walks out apparently holding a mobile phone, leaving the bag by the fence as tourists mill about.
Police spokesman Prawut Thavomsiri said a sketch of the man had been completed and facial recognition technology would be used to try to identify him, but he added that it was possible the suspect was in disguise at the time.
"We believe it is a network and not just one person operating alone. From looking at the CCTV footage we think that the yellow shirt man was maybe operating with one or two other people at the scene," he added, without elaborating.
Prawut had earlier tweeted that police were offering a 1 million baht ($28,100) reward "to whoever can give information that leads to the arrest of the suspect".
Police have not ruled out any group, including elements opposed to the military government, for the attack, though they say it did not match the tactics of Muslim insurgents in the south or 'red shirt' supporters of the previous administration.
"The attack did not bear the hallmarks of either southern Muslim separatists or red-shirt militants," said Angel Rabasa, an expert on Islamist militancy at the RAND Corporation.
"Both groups have carried out terrorist attacks in the past, but not on this scale in terms of loss of life."
He said the attack could be the work of Islamic State, which has been expanding its reach in Southeast Asia, or an al Qaeda-related or independent jihadist group. However, such groups usually claim responsibility for their attacks.
Police said they were also considering the possibility that ethnic Uighurs were behind the bombing.
Thailand forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China last month.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of members of the Turkic-speaking and largely Muslim minority have fled unrest in China's western Xinjiang region, where hundreds of people have been killed, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs have traveled through Southeast Asia to Turkey.
The blast comes at a sensitive time for Thailand, which has been riven for a decade by a sometimes-violent struggle for power between political factions in Bangkok.
A parliament hand-picked by a junta that seized power in a 2014 coup is due to vote on a draft constitution next month. Critics say the draft is undemocratic and intended to help the army secure power and curb the influence of elected politicians.
(Writing and additional reporting by John Chalmers; Editing by Alex Richardson)
-------------------------------------------
Bangkok bomb: Erawan shrine attacker 'is part of network', police say
Thai police have released a detailed sketch of the man suspected of planting the bomb
Bangkok bomb could hit tourism
The bomb attack that killed 20 people at Bangkok's Erawan shrine on Monday was carried out by a "network", Thailand's chief of police has said.
Police have released a sketch of the main suspect, a man in a yellow T-shirt who was filmed by security cameras leaving a backpack at the shrine.
The Hindu shrine, popular with tourists and Buddhists, reopened on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has described the incident as the worst-ever attack on Thailand.
Thai police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday that the shrine attack was the work of more than one person.
"He didn't do it alone for sure," he said, referring to the main suspect. "It's a network," he added, without giving further information.
He said he was certain that Thai citizens were involved in the bombing, but could not confirm if the bomber was a foreigner or a Thai citizen in disguise.
The prime minister has meanwhile urged the main suspect to surrender to the police because he might otherwise "get killed to stop him from talking".
Mr Prayuth told reporters the man must have been hired to plant the bomb.
The shrine reopened at about 08:00 local time (01:00 GMT), with a handful of people arriving to place flowers or light incense in front of the slightly damaged statue of the Hindu god Brahma.
A BBC reporter at the scene says there appears to be low security in place, with the public free to walk in unchecked. She says the last human remains were only cleared from the site earlier on Wednesday.
The statue of the Hindu god Brahma was slightly damaged in Monday's attack
The BBC's Stephen Evans says the authorities want to "send a signal" by reopening the shrine
Most of the victims of Monday's attack were Thai, but nationals from China, Hong Kong, the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were among the foreigners killed.
No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.
In a separate attack on Tuesday, an explosive device was thrown at a pier in Bangkok. No-one was hurt, but the authorities have not ruled out a link between the incidents.
Maj Gen Weerachoon Sukhontapatipak, a spokesman in the military government, earlier told the BBC that the authorities were "quite close" to identifying the suspect caught on CCTV at the shrine.
The man is seen carefully removing his backpack inside the shrine - at the spot the bomb went off - then getting up without it and immediately leaving.
Maj Gen Sukhontapatipak said no motive was being ruled out, but that the bomber did not appear to be Thai and the character of the bombing was "quite different" from previous bombings by Islamist separatists in southern Thailand.
Speaking in a television address on Tuesday evening, Mr Prayuth said the attack showed that Thailand "still has a person or a group of people with hostility to the nation operating actively".
"They may be doing it for a political motive or to undermine the economy or tourism or for other reasons," he said, according to the Bangkok Post.
He also warned against speculation on possible perpetrators, saying it could cause panic or mislead the investigation.
Bangkok explosion
BangkokBangkokBangkokGaysorn Plazashopping centreErawan ShrineErawan ShrineBTS SkytrainApproximateblast areaRatchaprasong Junction200mGoogleReuters500 feetTHAILAND
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre1 hour ago
A woman pays her respects at the Erawan shrine, the site of Monday's deadly blast, in central Bangkok, …
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police said on Wednesday they had still not established the nationality or whereabouts of the man they suspect bombed a Bangkok shrine, killing at least 20 people, suggesting the trail had gone cold after he was captured by CCTV at the scene.
Authorities said they were keeping watch for the suspect at the country's borders, but police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told a news conference that it was not clear how many people were involved in the attack or if they were still in the country.
"I don't suspect one person, I suspect many people," he said. "I am confident that there are Thais involved but I am not saying it is just Thais or that there are foreigners."
On Tuesday, a day after the bombing at the popular Erawan shrine in the heart of Bangkok, grainy closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage was released showing a young man dumping a backpack at the scene and walking away.
The government says the attack was aimed at wrecking the economy, which depends heavily on tourism.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, which according to the latest official toll killed 20 people - more than half of them foreigners from several Asian countries - and wounded more than 120.
Deputy police chief Jaktip Chaijinda said earlier that investigators believed the man on the video resembled a foreigner more than a Thai.
At least two foreigners have been interviewed in connection with the blast, police said.
Jangling nerves in the city on Tuesday, a small explosive was thrown from a bridge towards a river pier, sending a plume of water into the air, but no one was hurt.
A government spokesman initially said there were "patterns" linking the two bombs in that both used the explosive TNT, but police chief Somyot said no direct connection between them had been established.
Police Major General Pornchai Suteerakune, commander of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, said the bodies of almost all those killed at the shrine had wounds inflicted by ball bearings that were packed into the bomb.
The shrine, a blood-spattered scene of charred motorbikes and debris after the blast, was reopened on Wednesday.
NO CLEAR TELL-TALE SIGNS
The footage of the young man with a yellow T-shirt and shaggy dark hair shows him entering the shrine compound with a backpack on, sitting down against a railing and then slipping out of the bag's straps.
He then stands up and walks out apparently holding a mobile phone, leaving the bag by the fence as tourists mill about.
Police spokesman Prawut Thavomsiri said a sketch of the man had been completed and facial recognition technology would be used to try to identify him, but he added that it was possible the suspect was in disguise at the time.
"We believe it is a network and not just one person operating alone. From looking at the CCTV footage we think that the yellow shirt man was maybe operating with one or two other people at the scene," he added, without elaborating.
Prawut had earlier tweeted that police were offering a 1 million baht ($28,100) reward "to whoever can give information that leads to the arrest of the suspect".
Police have not ruled out any group, including elements opposed to the military government, for the attack, though they say it did not match the tactics of Muslim insurgents in the south or 'red shirt' supporters of the previous administration.
"The attack did not bear the hallmarks of either southern Muslim separatists or red-shirt militants," said Angel Rabasa, an expert on Islamist militancy at the RAND Corporation.
"Both groups have carried out terrorist attacks in the past, but not on this scale in terms of loss of life."
He said the attack could be the work of Islamic State, which has been expanding its reach in Southeast Asia, or an al Qaeda-related or independent jihadist group. However, such groups usually claim responsibility for their attacks.
Police said they were also considering the possibility that ethnic Uighurs were behind the bombing.
Thailand forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China last month.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of members of the Turkic-speaking and largely Muslim minority have fled unrest in China's western Xinjiang region, where hundreds of people have been killed, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs have traveled through Southeast Asia to Turkey.
The blast comes at a sensitive time for Thailand, which has been riven for a decade by a sometimes-violent struggle for power between political factions in Bangkok.
A parliament hand-picked by a junta that seized power in a 2014 coup is due to vote on a draft constitution next month. Critics say the draft is undemocratic and intended to help the army secure power and curb the influence of elected politicians.
(Writing and additional reporting by John Chalmers; Editing by Alex Richardson)
-------------------------------------------
Bangkok bomb: Erawan shrine attacker 'is part of network', police say
- 31 minutes ago
Thai police have released a detailed sketch of the man suspected of planting the bomb
Bangkok bomb could hit tourism
The bomb attack that killed 20 people at Bangkok's Erawan shrine on Monday was carried out by a "network", Thailand's chief of police has said.
Police have released a sketch of the main suspect, a man in a yellow T-shirt who was filmed by security cameras leaving a backpack at the shrine.
The Hindu shrine, popular with tourists and Buddhists, reopened on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has described the incident as the worst-ever attack on Thailand.
Thai police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday that the shrine attack was the work of more than one person.
"He didn't do it alone for sure," he said, referring to the main suspect. "It's a network," he added, without giving further information.
He said he was certain that Thai citizens were involved in the bombing, but could not confirm if the bomber was a foreigner or a Thai citizen in disguise.
The prime minister has meanwhile urged the main suspect to surrender to the police because he might otherwise "get killed to stop him from talking".
Mr Prayuth told reporters the man must have been hired to plant the bomb.
The shrine reopened at about 08:00 local time (01:00 GMT), with a handful of people arriving to place flowers or light incense in front of the slightly damaged statue of the Hindu god Brahma.
A BBC reporter at the scene says there appears to be low security in place, with the public free to walk in unchecked. She says the last human remains were only cleared from the site earlier on Wednesday.
The statue of the Hindu god Brahma was slightly damaged in Monday's attack
The BBC's Stephen Evans says the authorities want to "send a signal" by reopening the shrine
Most of the victims of Monday's attack were Thai, but nationals from China, Hong Kong, the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were among the foreigners killed.
No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.
In a separate attack on Tuesday, an explosive device was thrown at a pier in Bangkok. No-one was hurt, but the authorities have not ruled out a link between the incidents.
Maj Gen Weerachoon Sukhontapatipak, a spokesman in the military government, earlier told the BBC that the authorities were "quite close" to identifying the suspect caught on CCTV at the shrine.
The man is seen carefully removing his backpack inside the shrine - at the spot the bomb went off - then getting up without it and immediately leaving.
Maj Gen Sukhontapatipak said no motive was being ruled out, but that the bomber did not appear to be Thai and the character of the bombing was "quite different" from previous bombings by Islamist separatists in southern Thailand.
Speaking in a television address on Tuesday evening, Mr Prayuth said the attack showed that Thailand "still has a person or a group of people with hostility to the nation operating actively".
"They may be doing it for a political motive or to undermine the economy or tourism or for other reasons," he said, according to the Bangkok Post.
He also warned against speculation on possible perpetrators, saying it could cause panic or mislead the investigation.
Bangkok explosion
BangkokBangkokBangkokGaysorn Plazashopping centreErawan ShrineErawan ShrineBTS SkytrainApproximateblast areaRatchaprasong Junction200mGoogleReuters500 feetTHAILAND
batmannow
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What do you mean by NO?
Another BOMB scare goes out this afternoon near BTS NANA station , which is pack of Indian , Pakistani , & Arabic restaurants .
But later police checked out that was just a pack nothing else .
It all happened in front of me , I have to cut short my drive ?lol
Carlosa
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@Nihonjin1051
Five bodies unidentified; several injured critical
The attack, described as the worst in Thai history, rocked the crowded Erawan Shrine at Ratchaprasong Intersection shortly before 7pm on August 17. The blast claimed 20 lives.
Of the people killed, authorities said yesterday they were still unable to identify five. Three were women, and another is a man. The other could not be identified even by sex, as the body is beyond recognition.
In addition to the 20 deaths, the blast also injured more than 100 people.
Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin said yesterday the government would pay for medical treatments of all people injured.
Many nationalities
Foreigners of various nationalities are among the victims. "Two Chinese women are still in the intensive care units of the Ratchawithi Hospital," he said.
Institute of Forensic Science chief Pol Maj-General Pornchai Sutheera-kun said the dead included 16 at Police General Hospital, three at Chulalongkorn Hospital, one at the Central Hospital. The bodies have been sent to the institute to determine the cause of death. Five of those killed were identified as Thai, while the rest were foreigners. Pornchai said relatives should bring personal information such as dental records to identify family members.
The number people killed by the bomb at Ratchaprasong intersection rose to 20 with 125 injured, a doctor at Police General Hospital said yesterday.
Pol Maj-General Withoon Nitiwarangkoon, a high-ranking doctor at Police General, said dozens of injured people had been sent there because of its close proximity to the scene.
Some 39 of those admitted had been released from hospital, while four had died before arriving. Six are still being treated, and another 23 were transferred to other hospitals.
Of the six being treated, three are in intensive care units. A bomb fragment hit one victim in the stomach, while the second victim was a 10-year old child also hit by shrapnel in the stomach. The third ICU patient sustained broken legs.
Withoon said the hospital would set up a centre to provide information on the deaths and injured from the bomb attack, with interpreters to give information to relatives. Up to 80 Chinese and English interpreters have volunteered to provide support for the centre, which was adequate at this stage, he said.
The centre would also check the identity of those injured and killed. It will also co-ordinate with other hospitals to help search for any missing people. Seven people who were killed in the bomb attack have yet to be identified.
In critical condition
Erawan Rescue Centre reported that two of six patients at the Police General Hospital were in a critical condition. One was identified as Mr Koto Ando, 31, a Japanese visitor. Hit in the back by several pieces of shrapnel, he arrived at the hospital unconscious after losing a lot of blood.
A 10-year old Chinese girl is also being treated in an emergency ward after a surgery to stop bleeding on Monday night.
Several others also suffered deep wounds with internal organs torn apart. Some had to have part of their intestines removed. Medical personnel have also been trying to save the lives of some victims who suffered disseminated intra-vascular coagulation (DIC).
The Japanese man's condition has become stable, but he has not regained consciousness yet.
Meanwhile, the Department of Consular Affairs will issue urgent visas to relatives of the injured and deaths that want to come to Thailand. People can get additional information from Thai embassies in their countries.
Institute of Forensic Science chief Pol Maj-General Pornchai Sutheerakun said bodies of the deceased had been sent to the institute to determine their cause of death.
Five bodies unidentified; several injured critical
The attack, described as the worst in Thai history, rocked the crowded Erawan Shrine at Ratchaprasong Intersection shortly before 7pm on August 17. The blast claimed 20 lives.
Of the people killed, authorities said yesterday they were still unable to identify five. Three were women, and another is a man. The other could not be identified even by sex, as the body is beyond recognition.
In addition to the 20 deaths, the blast also injured more than 100 people.
Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin said yesterday the government would pay for medical treatments of all people injured.
Many nationalities
Foreigners of various nationalities are among the victims. "Two Chinese women are still in the intensive care units of the Ratchawithi Hospital," he said.
Institute of Forensic Science chief Pol Maj-General Pornchai Sutheera-kun said the dead included 16 at Police General Hospital, three at Chulalongkorn Hospital, one at the Central Hospital. The bodies have been sent to the institute to determine the cause of death. Five of those killed were identified as Thai, while the rest were foreigners. Pornchai said relatives should bring personal information such as dental records to identify family members.
The number people killed by the bomb at Ratchaprasong intersection rose to 20 with 125 injured, a doctor at Police General Hospital said yesterday.
Pol Maj-General Withoon Nitiwarangkoon, a high-ranking doctor at Police General, said dozens of injured people had been sent there because of its close proximity to the scene.
Some 39 of those admitted had been released from hospital, while four had died before arriving. Six are still being treated, and another 23 were transferred to other hospitals.
Of the six being treated, three are in intensive care units. A bomb fragment hit one victim in the stomach, while the second victim was a 10-year old child also hit by shrapnel in the stomach. The third ICU patient sustained broken legs.
Withoon said the hospital would set up a centre to provide information on the deaths and injured from the bomb attack, with interpreters to give information to relatives. Up to 80 Chinese and English interpreters have volunteered to provide support for the centre, which was adequate at this stage, he said.
The centre would also check the identity of those injured and killed. It will also co-ordinate with other hospitals to help search for any missing people. Seven people who were killed in the bomb attack have yet to be identified.
In critical condition
Erawan Rescue Centre reported that two of six patients at the Police General Hospital were in a critical condition. One was identified as Mr Koto Ando, 31, a Japanese visitor. Hit in the back by several pieces of shrapnel, he arrived at the hospital unconscious after losing a lot of blood.
A 10-year old Chinese girl is also being treated in an emergency ward after a surgery to stop bleeding on Monday night.
Several others also suffered deep wounds with internal organs torn apart. Some had to have part of their intestines removed. Medical personnel have also been trying to save the lives of some victims who suffered disseminated intra-vascular coagulation (DIC).
The Japanese man's condition has become stable, but he has not regained consciousness yet.
Meanwhile, the Department of Consular Affairs will issue urgent visas to relatives of the injured and deaths that want to come to Thailand. People can get additional information from Thai embassies in their countries.
Institute of Forensic Science chief Pol Maj-General Pornchai Sutheerakun said bodies of the deceased had been sent to the institute to determine their cause of death.
Jlaw
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And old white perverted men.
somsak
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Do you stay at Nana, bro?
Carlosa
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Thai police hunt 'foreign' man, two others for Bangkok blast
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police said on Wednesday that a suspect captured by CCTV cameras minutes before a bomb exploded at Bangkok's Erawan shrine was a foreigner, and his appearance suggested he might be from Europe or the Middle East.
Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri also said investigators were now convinced two other men seen on the grainy video footage were accomplices.
At least 20 people were killed in Monday's blast in the heart of the Thai capital. The government says the unprecedented attack on the city was designed to wreck the country's economy, which depends heavily on tourism.
No one has claimed responsibility for the evening rush-hour bombing, in which 11 foreigners from several Asian countries died and more than 120 were wounded.
Prawut said in a televised interview that an arrest warrant had been issued for a "foreign man", a sketch of whom showed a fair-skinned youth with thick, medium-length black hair, a wispy beard and black glasses.
"He had white skin and must have been a European or have mixed blood, perhaps with Middle Eastern blood," Prawut said, without giving a reason for his assumptions other than the color of the man's skin.
The sketch was based on footage that showed a man dressed in a yellow T-shirt dumping a backpack inside the shrine compound and walking away through a crowd of tourists about 20 minutes before the explosion.
Prawut earlier tweeted that police were offering a 1 million baht ($28,100) reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.
He said two other men, one dressed in red and another in white, were seen milling around the first suspect, apparently shielding him from the view of the crowd as he placed the rucksack in front of a railing.
Earlier, police had said they were sure some Thais were involved in the attack.
The shrine, a blood-spattered scene of charred motorbikes and debris after the blast, was reopened on Wednesday.
NO CLEAR TELL-TALE SIGNS
Police have not ruled out any group for the attack, including elements opposed to the military government, though they say it did not match the tactics of Muslim insurgents in the south or so-called 'red shirt' supporters of the previous administration.
Angel Rabasa, an expert on Islamist militancy at the RAND Corporation, said the attack could be the work of Islamic State, which has been expanding its reach in Southeast Asia, or an al Qaeda-related or independent jihadist group. However, such groups usually claim responsibility for their attacks.
Police said they were also considering the possibility that ethnic Uighurs were behind the bombing. Thailand forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China last month.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of members of the Turkic-speaking and largely Muslim minority have fled unrest in China's western Xinjiang region, where hundreds of people have been killed, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs have traveled through Southeast Asia to Turkey.
However, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sought to cool speculation of a revenge attack by Uighurs.
"I have always said that what the government did was within the boundaries of the law and by international agreement," he told reporters. "If we did not send them they would have been a burden to Thailand. I don't want this issue raised."
Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said no direct connection had been established between Monday's deadly blast and a small explosive thrown from a bridge toward a river pier in Bangkok on Tuesday. No one was hurt by that second bomb. A government spokesman had initially said there were "patterns" linking the two bombs which both used TNT.
The blast comes at a sensitive time for Thailand, which has been riven for a decade by a sometimes-violent struggle for power between political factions in Bangkok.
A parliament hand-picked by a junta that seized power in a 2014 coup is due to vote on a draft constitution next month. Critics say the draft is undemocratic and intended to help the army secure power and curb the influence of elected politicians.
(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, with additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak, Pairat Temphairojana and John Chalmers; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police said on Wednesday that a suspect captured by CCTV cameras minutes before a bomb exploded at Bangkok's Erawan shrine was a foreigner, and his appearance suggested he might be from Europe or the Middle East.
Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri also said investigators were now convinced two other men seen on the grainy video footage were accomplices.
At least 20 people were killed in Monday's blast in the heart of the Thai capital. The government says the unprecedented attack on the city was designed to wreck the country's economy, which depends heavily on tourism.
No one has claimed responsibility for the evening rush-hour bombing, in which 11 foreigners from several Asian countries died and more than 120 were wounded.
Prawut said in a televised interview that an arrest warrant had been issued for a "foreign man", a sketch of whom showed a fair-skinned youth with thick, medium-length black hair, a wispy beard and black glasses.
"He had white skin and must have been a European or have mixed blood, perhaps with Middle Eastern blood," Prawut said, without giving a reason for his assumptions other than the color of the man's skin.
The sketch was based on footage that showed a man dressed in a yellow T-shirt dumping a backpack inside the shrine compound and walking away through a crowd of tourists about 20 minutes before the explosion.
Prawut earlier tweeted that police were offering a 1 million baht ($28,100) reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.
He said two other men, one dressed in red and another in white, were seen milling around the first suspect, apparently shielding him from the view of the crowd as he placed the rucksack in front of a railing.
Earlier, police had said they were sure some Thais were involved in the attack.
The shrine, a blood-spattered scene of charred motorbikes and debris after the blast, was reopened on Wednesday.
NO CLEAR TELL-TALE SIGNS
Police have not ruled out any group for the attack, including elements opposed to the military government, though they say it did not match the tactics of Muslim insurgents in the south or so-called 'red shirt' supporters of the previous administration.
Angel Rabasa, an expert on Islamist militancy at the RAND Corporation, said the attack could be the work of Islamic State, which has been expanding its reach in Southeast Asia, or an al Qaeda-related or independent jihadist group. However, such groups usually claim responsibility for their attacks.
Police said they were also considering the possibility that ethnic Uighurs were behind the bombing. Thailand forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China last month.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of members of the Turkic-speaking and largely Muslim minority have fled unrest in China's western Xinjiang region, where hundreds of people have been killed, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs have traveled through Southeast Asia to Turkey.
However, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sought to cool speculation of a revenge attack by Uighurs.
"I have always said that what the government did was within the boundaries of the law and by international agreement," he told reporters. "If we did not send them they would have been a burden to Thailand. I don't want this issue raised."
Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said no direct connection had been established between Monday's deadly blast and a small explosive thrown from a bridge toward a river pier in Bangkok on Tuesday. No one was hurt by that second bomb. A government spokesman had initially said there were "patterns" linking the two bombs which both used TNT.
The blast comes at a sensitive time for Thailand, which has been riven for a decade by a sometimes-violent struggle for power between political factions in Bangkok.
A parliament hand-picked by a junta that seized power in a 2014 coup is due to vote on a draft constitution next month. Critics say the draft is undemocratic and intended to help the army secure power and curb the influence of elected politicians.
(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, with additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak, Pairat Temphairojana and John Chalmers; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
Hoping and praying that our fellow brother's condition improves.
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