Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Prawat Wongsuwan said the attack was designed to destroy the country’s tourism sector, according to The Bangkok Post.
Advertisement
The government called the bomb a bid to destroy the economy.
The explosion went off around 7 p.m.in an upscale area filled with tourists, office workers and shoppers.
Police said that attack was aimed at raising tension when the city was under martial law. We haven’t ruled out any motive.
Thailand’s baht currency slumped to a more than six-year low on Tuesday and shares fell in Bangkok over concerns the attack could damage the tourism sector.
“We didn’t know about this ahead of time”. An emergency worker in an ambulance, frantically pounding the chest of a victim.
Thai police chief Gen Somyot Poompanmouag said 16 people died as a result of the bomb blast, including possibly China and Philippine nationals.
“Planting a bomb there means they want to see a lot of dead people”. Police combed through shattered glass and other debris Tuesday from a bomb blast in cent… Nobody appeared to have been injured. Spokesman John Kirby said authorities in Thailand were investigating and had not requested assistance from U.S. officials so far. A more-than-decade-long insurgency by southern Muslim separatists has left more than 5,000 dead far from the capital.
The explosion took place at the Rajprasong intersection, which was the center of many contentious political demonstrations in recent years.
He had earlier said that the explosion was caused by a TNT bomb. The shrine is also a big draw for tourists, at a busy intersection near a shopping mall.
Throngs of tourists come there to pray at all hours, lighting incense and offering flowers purchased from rows of stalls set up on the sidewalk along the shrine.
Thais walking near the blast site on Tuesday expressed fear about more potential violence in the coming days.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told the nation in his first televised address since the blast that the government will expedite “all investigative efforts to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice”, but said nothing specific about suspects or the status of the investigation.
At the same time, the military government has tightly controlled dissent, arresting hundreds of its opponents and banning protests.
Self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is Yingluck’s brother and who was toppled by a 2006 coup, sits at the heart of the political divide.
Prawit says Thai authorities had no intelligence on the attack before the Monday night blast.
Advertisement
“That would really alienate many of their supporters”. Mr Abbott said the embassy in Bangkok was in close contact with Thai authorities to determine whether any Australians had been affected.
