Police, meanwhile, said they suspected the plot was well-planned by a network of at least 10 people.
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Thai authorities are searching for a man caught on security cameras leaving behind a rucksack at the popular attraction, which is in an area well-used by foreign visitors.
The suspect, whom the driver described as having “a long, tapering chin, high nose, white skin, and was less than 170 centimeter tall”, handed him a drawn map of Lumpini Park written in English about three to five minutes after the blast.
Earlier Colonel Winthai Suvaree, a junta spokesman, said after discussion with foreign intelligence agencies they concluded “the incident is unlikely to be linked to worldwide terrorism”. “What worries us most now is that this might impact the National Day golden week holiday”.
Winthai said Chinese tourists were not believed to have been the target.
The warning comes as Thai and Chinese countrymen are reeling from a Monday bombing targeting a popular attraction for foreign tourists that left almost two dozen people dead and more than 100 others injured.
Thai authorities identified six victims as Thai and four as Malaysians, along with four Chinese, two people from Hong Kong including a British citizen, one Indonesian and one Singaporean.
Other speculation points closer to home.
Blame now seemed to be shifting to either Muslim separatists waging an insurgency in the south of the country, or domestic political activists.
Experts say the unprecedented scale of Monday’s attack and apparent targeting of tourists could indicate a game-changing escalation of tactics for the country’s usual suspects – or an entirely new threat. Both leaders were ousted in military coups, the second of the two led by Prayuth, a former army chief. Subways and buying malls have been bustling and apart from bag inspections at shops and lodge entrances, there was little seen additional safety.
“The witness said the suspect remained at the place after alighting and therefore, there must have been someone to fetch him”, Somyot told reporters in Bangkok today.
Thailand’s military junta said Thursday that this week’s deadly bombing in downtown Bangkok that killed 20 people was “unlikely” to have been carried out by global terrorists. Correspondent Jonathan Head reports that when he tried to bring the pieces to Bangkok police headquarters, he was turned away at the gate by officers who said the facility was closed.
Police on Thursday doubled the reward for information leading to the suspect’s arrest to 2 million Thai baht ($56,000), according to the government-run National News Bureau of Thailand.
“The people of Bangkok are as kind as they always are and only a short while after the bomb, Thai China and others were in a large queue at the hospital donating blood”, added Stewart. Police don’t know what language it was.
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A Thai tour guide, who was captured on CCTV footage just before Monday’s explosion in Bangkok, has been questioned and released.
