Thailand’s police chief says at least 10 people were now suspected of involvement in the Bangkok bombing, more than half of them foreigners.
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The Thai police has since released a cartographic sketch of the actual suspect, and issued an arrest warrant for the “unidentified foreign man” spotted by the CCTV camera installed at the shrine.
Two other possible accomplices were seen standing in front of the man who left the backpack on a bench outside the shrine, police said late Wednesday.
Winthai Suvaree, the spokesman for the Thai junta, says global terrorists are not suspected in the attack.
Officials various times said that they did not rule out any group, including elements opposed to the military government, though they said it did not match the tactics of Muslim fighters in the south or “red shirt” supporters of the previous administration.
In a separate development, a tuk-tuk driver who took the main suspect to the crime scene had approached police to help with the investigation, spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told dpa.
A reward of one million baht ($28,000; £17,950) has been offered for information leading to his arrest.
However, it has now sent the global police organisation a sketch of the suspected bomber. The national police chief said he believes the bombing was the work of a “network” with “some Thais involved”. “Usually, this kind of bomb attack is not planned by only one person”.
Forty-eight hours after a bomb blast tore through a shrine teeming with tourists in central Bangkok, the authorities yesterday seemed to have few firm clues about who was responsible for the bloodiest attack the city has seen.
Most of the victims of Monday’s attack were Thai, but nationals from China, Hong Kong, the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were among the foreigners killed.
Twisted iron railings were the only immediate sign of the blast point, which police believe was caused by a bomb made up of 3kg of high explosives.
Bangkok was rattled by a second blast Tuesday at a popular ferry pier which exploded in the Chao Phraya River and caused no injuries.
The Shrine reopened to the public yesterday, with crowds gathering to pay their respects following the attack dubbed the “worst” in Thailand’s history by its Prime Minister.
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Family members of a bombing victim pray at the Erawan Shrine at…
