Thais downplay global terror links to deadly shrine bomb

Women light incense sticks before offering prayers at the reopened Erawan shrine - the popular tourist site where 20 people were killed on Aug 17 in a bomb blast - in central Bangkok on Aug 20, 2015. (Photo: AFP/Christophe Archmanbault)

BANGKOK: Thai authorities said on Thursday (Aug 20) international terror groups were likely not behind a deadly Bangkok shrine bombing, but appealed for Interpol help in tracking down a young "foreign" man suspected of planting the device.

Police also said that the attack on a Hindu shrine in a bustling tourist hub of the capital was carefully planned by a network of more than 10 people.

Monday's blast killed 20 people, mostly Asian visitors, leaving residents and even the military junta leader fearing more attacks, while sending shockwaves though the nation's vital tourism sector.

The apparent deliberate targeting of tourists and the scale of the explosion had never been seen in the Thai capital and, with no-one claiming responsibility, experts were perplexed over who to blame.

Thailand's national police chief, Somyot Poompanmoung, on Thursday gave the most detailed profile of the mysterious assailants, saying there were more than 10 involved and that they had carefully planned it.

"This blast was carried out by teams ... there was a survey team, a protection team, material providing team and exit team," Somyot told reporters.

But after days of confusing and sometimes contradictory information from Thai authorities over their investigation, they also said they did not believe global terrorist organisations were involved.

"Security agencies have collaborated with intelligence agencies from allied countries, and have come to the same preliminary conclusion that the incident is unlikely to be linked to international terrorism," government spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said in a televised update.

Winthai also said: "Chinese people were not the direct target".

This appeared to be aimed at countering accusations run by some sections of the Thai media that militants representing the ethnic Chinese Uighur minority had carried out the attack.

MYSTERIOUS PRIME SUSPECT

Thai police said they still did not know if the man suspected of planting the bomb at the shrine minutes before the blast was in the country or not, as they asked Interpol for help.

An arrest warrant was issued for him on Wednesday after police also released a sketch showing him in glasses and with dark hair, describing him as a tall foreigner with fair skin. The sketch depicted generally ambiguous features that made it hard to determine his ethnicity.

This still handout photo released by Thai Police and taken from CCTV footage shows the main Thai bombing suspect (R-in yellow shirt - circled by Thai Police) on the back of a motorbike, riding away from Erawan shrine just two minutes after the bomb was detonated. (Photo: AFP/Thai Police)

When asked about his ethnicity, police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri used a Thai phrase to describe light-skinned Muslims from South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Prawut also said the suspect had been overheard speaking a foreign language, other than English. Police have interviewed motorcycle taxi drivers who gave the suspect rides.

But various senior Thai security figures have repeatedly given contradictory information about the suspect, with some also saying he may be European, or part-Thai.

Despite authorities downplaying the involvement of international groups, Bangkok-based security analyst Anthony Davis said the choice of target and ferocity of the attack made it highly unlikely any Thai groups with a history of violence were involved.

"It is inconceivable to me that any Thai political group, however extreme, would pull off a job like this -- targeting foreigners and aimed at causing maximum civilian casualties, and in an iconic national religious shrine at the epicentre of the national capital."

CONFUSION, FEARS

Adding to the sense of insecurity, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he would not attend a memorial service for the victims at the shrine on Friday because of growing fears for his life.

"I will not go there on the advice of my security. I am not afraid of dying but I am afraid others may die with me as my risk is increasing day by day," he said at an official function in Bangkok.

Prayut is a former army chief who has ruled the country since overthrowing the democratically elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra in May last year.

Thailand has endured a decade of political unrest amid a power struggle that broadly pits the rural and urban poor, led by the populist Shinawatra clan, against a military-backed royalist elite.

The tensions have repeatedly escalated into deadly violence on the streets of Bangkok, but nothing on Monday's scale.

The bomb struck during Monday's rush hour in a popular tourist area in the city's commercial heart, studded by upscale shopping malls and five-star hotels.

It claimed the lives of at least 13 foreigners - from Britain, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Another 67 people remained in hospital by late on Wednesday, 12 of whom were in critical condition.

Thai workers shift the body of a Chinese victim killed in a bomb blast outside a religious shrine, at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok on Aug 20, 2015. (Photo: AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

SUSPECT GROUPS

It remained unclear who had the capacity and desire to carry out the attack.

Left with just guesswork, Thai media outlets had cast suspicion on Uighur militants, a group that faces cultural and religious repression in China. The Erawan shrine is enormously popular among ethnic Chinese visitors from across Asia.

Last month Thailand forcibly repatriated more than 100 Uighur refugees to China, stirring speculation that Monday's attack may have been an act of revenge. But Uighur groups are not known to have ever carried out an attack outside China and Winthai's comments on Thursday appeared to be aimed at quashing that theory.

Islamic militant groups have also targeted parts of Southeast Asia, including bombings on Indonesia's holiday island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people.