A bomb exploded Monday within a central Bangkok shrine that is among the city’s most popular tourist spots, killing a number of people and injuring others, police said.
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Colonel Natakit Siriwongtawan, deputy police chief of Klongsan district, said: “If it hadn’t fallen in the water then it certainly would have caused injuries”.
Twenty-two people were killed and 123 injured in yesterday’s blast at the Ratchaprasong intersection. The Thai prime minister who gave his first televised address since the blast on Tuesday, August 18, promised that the government will expedite “all investigative efforts to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice”. At the time of the incident tourists were lined up to take boat tours. He was seen in the video apparently leaving the bag close to the Erawan shrine before the explosion.
“We didn’t think anything like this could happen in Bangkok”, said Holger Siegle of Germany, who said he and his newlywed wife had chosen Thailand because it seemed safe.
He said the motive behind the blast has yet to be concluded.
A notice on the website of the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok says three Chinese tourists were among the dead from the explosion and more than 20 others had been injured.
‘(The attackers) had the clear target of destroying our economy and tourism… and discrediting the government, ‘ Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon told reporters.
The mysterious bomber who immediately fled the scene could not be identified as yet and is still at large, the police said.
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He said it was impossible for a foreigner to come into Bangkok and would able to know where to go and how to hike motorcycle across the bridge.
