Agencies
BANGKOK, AUGUST 18
Thai investigators believe a man seen in security video wearing a yellow T-shirt and carrying a backpack set off the bomb at a central Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people and injured more than 100, police said Tuesday.
“The yellow shirt guy is not just the suspect. He is the bomber,” police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told The Associated Press.Prawut earlier released several photos of the man, with and without the backpack, on social media.
The images were apparently taken from closed-circuit video at the Erawan Shrine on Monday evening before the bomb exploded. He confirmed that the man is suspected in the bombing when contacted by The Associated Press.
The death toll from a bombing in the Thai capital rose to 20 on Tuesday with 123 wounded, police said, with at least 11 foreigners from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore among those killed. Police revised down an earlier toll of 21 dead from Monday`s bombing of the popular Erawan shrine in the heart of Bangkok`s tourist and commercial centre.
“The bomb aimed at killing as many people as possible as the shrine is crowded at around 6 to 7 pm,” police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told AFP.
A police breakdown of the nationalities caught up in the blast showed three Chinese, two Hong Kongers, an Indonesian, four Malaysians, one Singaporean and six Thais were confirmed killed.The three other victims have yet to be identified.
Thais made up the largest number of wounded with 42 being treated, followed by 28 Chinese according to an update released earlier Tuesday.
Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, the Philippines and Singapore all had one or more nationals wounded.
The Erawan shrine sits at the foot of the five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel and is surrounded by a string of other large hotels and malls that draw thousands of visitors each day.
Dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma, it is visited by thousands of Buddhist devotees every day, particularly Chinese visitors who travel to Thailand in larger numbers than any other nationality.
Explosive device thrown near Bangkok rail station, no injuries: Police
A small device exploded near a busy train station in central Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon, police said, a day after a powerful bomb killed 20 at a religious shrine.
“No one was killed or injured. Police are at the scene to investigate what kind of device it was,” an officer at Yanawa police station, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
He said the incident took place shortly after 1pm (0600 GMT) near the Saphan Taksin BTS skytrain station.
