Police are shifting individuals again as a result of they’re fearful concerning the second explosion.
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But National Police Chief Somyot Pumpanmuang earlier said that police “are not ruling out anything including [Thai] politics and the conflict of ethnic Uygurs who, before this, Thailand sent back to China”.
Thailand forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China last month.
Authorities are remaining tight-lipped on the possible identities behind the attack.
The blast will “definitely have a negative impact on equities, the currency and the overall economy”, said Mr Andrew Stotz, chief executive officer of Bangkok-based A. Stotz Investment Research and former head of research for Thailand at CLSA Ltd. “Thailand is vulnerable right now as economic growth and corporate earnings are weak”.
The blast, which the government believed was aimed at damaging economy and tourism, occurred inside Erawan Shrine dedicated to Lord Brahma in the downtown Chidlom district.
The explosion took place in the centre of the Thai capital at around 7pm, which would have been packed with tourists.
According to The Guardian, the death toll now stands at 22, while a further 123 people were injured in the blast. Two Malaysians, a Singaporean, an Indonesian and a Filipino were also killed, officials said.
More than 100 other people were injured as the blast left body parts strewn across crushed pavement, alongside shattered windows and incinerated motorcycles.
On April 18, 2015, two explosions rocked the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, one outside a bank and the other near the Information and Culture Department, killing 33 people and wounding over 100. Two pipe bombs exploded outside a luxury shopping mall in the same area in February, but cause little damage. Thai forces are fighting a low-level Muslim insurgency in the predominantly Buddhist country’s south, but those rebels have rarely launched attacks outside their heartland.
The Thai prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha described the bombing as “the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand”.
APTN also states that Thailand’s defence minister Prawit Wongsuwan declared that officials had had no prior intelligence on the bomb. The Erawan shrine, on a busy corner near top hotels, shopping centers, offices and a hospital, is a major tourist attraction, especially for visitors from East Asia.
Bangkok has been relatively peaceful since a military coup in May 2014.
The military seized power in a coup in May 2014, ousting the democratically elected government that had been beset by long-running protests in Bangkok.
Bangkok shares slumped as much as 2.8 percent in opening deals, their steepest decline this year, before paring losses to a fall of 1.99 percent by early afternoon.
On Tuesday morning, the streets next to Monday’s bombing site were closed as authorities finished gathering evidence and cleaned up.
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A New Zealand paramedic was at the heart of the Bangkok bombings overnight, and was helping those wounded at the scene shortly after the blast.
