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UK Government not advising Britons to avoid Thai capital

Associate Professor Nattavud Pimpa of Melbourne’s RMIT university said there are many diverse groups opposed to Thailand’s military government and pinning down the culprit may prove hard.

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A cordoned off Erawan Shrine morning after the blast. Do you understand the word investigation?

Motorcycles and debris lies on the pavement after an explosion in Bangkok, August 17, 2015.

The bomb exploded at 7pm local time (12:00 GMT) on Monday.

Workers cemented the crater before it reopened to the public early Wednesday.

“At this time we have no reports of British nationals killed or injured but we are urgently seeking further information”.

“One reason that there hasn’t been a claim of responsibility could be that those who placed the bomb and their accomplices need time to flee and will only do so afterwards”. My thoughts are with her family & all those affected. “I feel sad for them, their families and relatives”. “Be together”.

A receptionist at an worldwide chain five-star hotel near the blast site, who did not want to be named, said that panicked guests called the reception after the attack but most had decided to stay.

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.

As police last evening (Aug 18) stepped up their hunt for a man filmed at the shrine shortly before Monday’s deadly blast, sources say the probe is focusing on a revenge motive by Uighur militants, after the Thai government deported Chinese Muslim migrants to Beijing in July.

“Police will resume collecting evidence this afternoon”, he said. Police say the explosive device was thrown from a bridge and blew up after falling into the river below. Security camera footage shows a sudden blast of water over a walkway at the pier as bystanders run for safety.

“We suspect he is the bomber”, national police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said, referring to the man in a yellow T-shirt in a grainy video that has gone viral on social media.

She has not yet been formally identified but she was living in Hong Kong and had taken a trip to Thailand. The UK Government is not advising Britons to avoid Bangkok despite the incident.

The Foreign Office said it could not confirm whether Ms Chan was the British national from Hong Kong whose death had earlier been confirmed by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

News of the cabinet change comes a day after a bomb exploded in central Bangkok killing 22 people, including eight foreigners.

Still, Thailand is no stranger to upheaval and the tourists have always returned: through a dozen coups, a tsunami, financial upheaval, floods and riots.

Authorities had already released still images of the man in the yellow shirt, who is wanted for questioning. “He is the bomber”, police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The Erawan Shrine, right, and Rajprasong intersection remains…

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In the video he calmly places the backpack underneath a bench and then walks away clutching a blue plastic bag and what looks like a smartphone.

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