The Philippine Embassy in Thailand is still verifying reports that a Filipino was among the at least 20 people killed in a bomb explosion in Bangkok Monday night.
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The blast was caused by an improvised explosive device that had been planted near the shrine with the intention of killing people, Pumpanmuang said at a press conference.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha promised to “hurry and find the bombers” and said there was security camera footage of suspects. “But this time they aimed to take lives”.
“The perpetrators intended to destroy the economy and tourism, because the incident occurred in the heart of the tourism district”, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told Reuters.
In February, two explosions rocked the popular tourist shopping mall, Siam Paragon, on the connecting walkway leading from Siam Paragon to the busy BTS Siam Square station, injuring two people.
“Today there is a suspect who appeared on CCTV but it’s not clear… we are looking for this guy”, he said, according to AFP.
The Thai government has said the attack was designed to harm their tourism industry, but as of yet nobody has claimed responsibility.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it was too soon to tell if a blast was a terrorist attack.
“At this time we have no reports of British nationals killed or injured but we are urgently seeking further information”.
Association of Thai Travel Agents former president, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, said Chinese media had already reported the news and this caused tour operators to immediately ask for clarification from their travel partners in Thailand.
Rebels in the Malay-Muslim part of Thailand have been fighting for independence from the mostly Buddhist country.
Meck, who had never witnessed an explosion before, said when he arrived at the scene, there were a few victims covered with blood on the ground. It accounts for about 10 percent of the economy, and the government had expected a record number of visitors this year following a sharp fall in 2014 during months of street protests and the coup.
Tensions have risen in recent months, with the junta making clear it may not hold elections until 2017, and that it wants a constitution which will allow some type of emergency rule to take the place of an elected government.
The Red Shirts are a grassroots network of the rural and urban poor, particularly from the country’s north-east, that support Yingluck and her ousted prime minister brother Thaksin Shinawatra. “Our honeymoon and our vacation will go on, but with a very unsafe feeling”. The US government has warned its citizens to avoid the area and voiced sympathy for the victims.
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While bombings are rare in Bangkok, they are more common in southern Thailand, where a Muslim separatist insurgency has been flaring for several years.
