The national police chief said he believes the bombing was the work of a “network” with “some Thais involved”.
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The sketch of a bespectacled, apparently young man with light stubble and a full head of hair, was published on Wednesday afternoon (local time) based on security camera footage taken around the blast site that has been widely shared.
“He had white skin and must have been a European or have mixed blood, perhaps with Middle Eastern blood”, Mr Prawut said, without giving a reason for his assumptions other than the colour of the man’s skin.
But police said earlier they had interviewed two motorcycle taxi riders near the shrine, one of whom gave a ride to the suspect.
A man in a yellow T-shirt, carrying a backpack as seen in a surveillance video has been identified as the bomber by officials.
Twenty people were killed and more than 100 injured as a result of the attack on a popular tourist location in the center of the Thai capital.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the bombing was the worst-ever attack on Thailand.
The shrine reopened to the public on Wednesday, with people arriving to offer prayers and flowers.
Without elaborating, the prime minister said, “Today we have seen the closed-circuit footage, we saw some suspects, but it wasn’t clear”.
The Hindu shrine compound was erratically sealed off after the blast and the cordon was crisscrossed by police, soldiers, volunteer medics and journalists even as explosives experts combed the area for clues. “It would make his life miserable”.
Various Islamic militant groups have also carried out many attacks in other parts of Southeast Asia, including bombings on Indonesia s holiday island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people.
“He didn’t do it alone for sure”, he said, referring to the main suspect.
The Erwarn Shrine is a sacred site dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma and located in front of the Grand Hyatt Erawan, a five-star luxury hotel in the heart of Bangkok’s Chidlom district.
Those killed included several Thai victims, six Chinese, a Malaysian family of four, an Indonesian, a Singaporean woman, and a British teenager. Details around the two unidentified men have not been released.
Another 17 people from mainland China, two from Hong Kong and three from Taiwan were receiving treatment in hospital, according to the Chinese embassy in Thailand, adding more than 10 other Chinese people who sustained minor injuries, have been discharged.
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Prawut told theBangkok Post that Tuesday’s pipe bomb was probably meant to land on a busy platform leading to a pier, but hit a pillar and bounced into a canal, sending a large plume of water into the air.
