PHOTO: Reuters
BANGKOK - Police said on Monday the trail had gone cold in the hunt for a bomber a week after 20 people were killed in Thailand's worst ever bomb attack, and they were unsure if the chief suspect was still in the country.
Although half of the 14 foreigners killed in the blast at Bangkok's most famous Buddhist shrine were from mainland China or Hong Kong, tour operators said there was little sign that Chinese holidaymakers had been put off visiting Thailand, providing some relief for the economy, at least.
The main evidence police have to go on is security camera footage. Some, from the Erawan shrine, shows the suspected bomber slipping off a backpack and walking away.
The young man with a yellow shirt and dark hair was also caught on closed circuit television (CCTV) camera leaving the scene on the back of a motorcycle taxi. But after that there was very little, police said.
"In terms of the CCTV cameras, some don't capture images properly and some were damaged which is a waste of time for police piecing together where the suspect went," national police chief Somyot Poompanmuang told reporters.
In the days following the attack, authorities issued contradictory statements about the suspect's appearance, the number of accomplices he might have had and the likelihood of foreign involvement.
Bomb blast at Bangkok's Erawan Shrine: Turkish man arrested
-
Open gallery
Two prime suspects in the Erawan Shrine bomb attack that killed 20 and injured more than 100 people re-enacted the crime at 19 key spots in Bangkok.
-
Open gallery
Adem Karadag, or Bilal Muhammed, who was the first suspect arrested in connection with the August 17 attack in an apartment in Min Buri
-
Open gallery
and Mieraili Yusufu, the second suspect arrested at the beginning of this month near the Cambodia border at Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district,
-
Open gallery
were taken to re-enact the crime at key spots where they confessed to committing the crime
-
Open gallery
Adem's confession was in line with Mieraili's confession and Adem's statements also implicated others in the bombing gang.
-
Open gallery
Adem started the re-enactment outside the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel where he allegedly got off a tuk-tuk; the second spot was at the Erawan Shrine where Adem placed a bag containing the bomb.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
Mieraili was brought to Rama I Road, opposite the Erawan Shrine.
-
Open gallery
National police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang said the suspects had confessed because they were confronted with evidence.
-
Open gallery
He said the motive for the bombing was the crackdown on human trafficking, which put an end to the illegal business.
-
Open gallery
The suspects were part of the human-trafficking ring and might have been hired by an ill-intentioned group to commit the crime.
-
Open gallery
A foreign man described as a "main suspect" in the deadly Bangkok bombing was arrested, with Thai police calling him an important figure in the network that staged the attack.
-
Open gallery
The man detained near the border with Cambodia is the second foreigner held over the blast at a religious shrine in central Bangkok which killed 20 people, mostly ethnic Chinese tourists.
-
Open gallery
Police also said arrest warrants have been issued for three fresh suspects still at large, two of whom have names which appear foreign.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
A picture of an unnamed foreign man wanted for questioning after bomb making materials were found in a Bangkok apartment he allegedly rented
-
Open gallery
A picture of Wanna Suansan, 26, wanted for questioning after bomb making materials were found in a Bangkok apartment she allegedly rented
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
Nuts and bolts found during a search of a property in the Min Buri distric
-
Open gallery
Items found during a search of a property in the Min Buri distric
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
Police probing Thailand's deadliest bombing widened their net in the search for more suspects
-
Open gallery
after a foreigner was arrested and stacks of fake passports and bomb-making materials were found during a raid on a Bangkok apartment block.
-
Open gallery
The 28-year-old man, who has been in Thailand since January 2014, was detained on charges of possessing illegal explosives.
-
Open gallery
Police and residents in Bangkok's Nong Chok district said the suspect rented four apartments on the same floor of the rundown building.
-
Open gallery
The detained man was reclusive but always appeared focused and walked with intent on his rare forays outside.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
Police arrested a foreign man on Saturday they said fitted the description of a suspect seen leaving a rucksack at the site of the Bangkok blast nearly two weeks ago.
-
Open gallery
Police raided an apartment in a northern suburb of the capital on Saturday afternoon and discovered possible bomb-making materials that could have been used in the Aug. 17 attack in Bangkok's bustling commercial heart.
-
Open gallery
Police say the suspect is ‘unlikely’ international terrorist, but spurred by ‘personal feud’.
-
Open gallery
Thai police released a sketch of a suspected bomber.
-
Open gallery
Thai monks led prayers Wednesday for the reopening of Bangkok shrine where a blast killed 20 people, as police hunted a man shown on security footage calmly planting what is believed to be the bomb.
-
Open gallery
The bomb struck early on Monday evening as worshippers and tourists crowded into the Erawan shrine in the Thai capital's commercial heart, but no-one has yet claimed responsibility.
-
Open gallery
The unprecedented attack on the Thai capital left at least 11 foreigners dead, with Chinese, Hong Kong, Singaporean, Indonesian and a family from Malaysia among the victims.
-
Open gallery
More than 100 other people were wounded by a blast that shredded bodies and incinerated motorcycles at one of the city's busiest intersections.
-
Open gallery
Police said a second explosion at a Bangkok pier on Tuesday that caused no injuries may be linked, deepening fears for Bangkok residents with police conceding they do not know who was responsible.
-
Open gallery
Around a dozen Buddhist monks led prayers at the Erawan shrine as it re-opened early Wednesday while devotees - including tourists - genuflected and held joss sticks, and AFP reporter said.
-
Open gallery
A relative of the dead Malaysians had laid bundles of clothes at the shrine to represent the lost loved ones, according to a monk.
-
Open gallery
The shrine - a popular tourist attraction that typifies the kingdom's unusual blend of Hindu and Buddhist traditions - and its surrounding had already been largely restored.
-
Open gallery
Twisted iron railings were the only immediate sign of the carnage, which police believe was caused by a bomb made up of three kilogrammes of explosives and ball bearings.
-
Open gallery
One devotee had more reason than most to give thanks.
-
Open gallery
Tommy Goh, 56, a Thai-Malaysian from Penang, said only a delayed taxi from his hotel spared him from being at the shrine around the time of the blast.
-
Open gallery
"Every year I come down to this shrine, we were meant to be here around 6.50-7pm but the taxi didn't arrive from the hotel... so we went somewhere else," he told AFP.
-
Open gallery
"Ten minutes later and it could have been so different." Police released images Tuesday showing a man, apparently young, slightly built and wearing a yellow T-shirt and dark shorts, walking into the shrine with a backpack.
-
Open gallery
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.
-
Open gallery
The bomb exploded several minutes later, leading Thailand police to make the man their prime suspect.
-
Open gallery
A small explosion on Tuesday by a bridge at the city's Chaopraya river has been tied to Monday's bomb.
-
Open gallery
Colonel Kamthorn Ouicharoen, of Thai bomb squad police confirmed the bridge bomb was same type as that detonated at the Erawan Shrine "It's exactly the same, the equipment used to make it, the bomb size," he said.
-
Open gallery
"Police will resume collecting evidence this afternoon," he added.
-
Open gallery
Thailand has experienced a near-decade long political crisis that has seen endless rounds of street violence.
-
Open gallery
But never anything on the scale of Monday's bomb.
-
Open gallery
A festering insurgency by Muslim rebels in the Thai south has claimed 6,400 victims, but is a highly localised conflict.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
A small explosive was thrown from a bridge over the Chao Phraya River in central Bangkok on Tuesday, but no injuries were reported.
-
Open gallery
The unidentified man threw the explosive near the busy Sathorn Pier on the city’s Chao Phraya River and it landed in a canal.
-
Open gallery
The incident came a day after a fatal bomb blast at a city shrine.
-
Open gallery
CCTV footage shows people scattering as they cross the bridge.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
The man was filmed on CCTV near the Erewan shrine.
-
Open gallery
He was first wearing a backpack, and later appeared without it.
-
Open gallery
Thai police are now hunting for him.
-
Open gallery
The bomb was reportedly planted inside the Erawan shrine, which is situated just at the corner of the Ratchaprasong intersection and in front of the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok hotel, an area that many tourists would be familiar with.
-
Open gallery
A Singaporean woman was killed in the bomb blast that rocked Bangkok's Ratchaprasong area on Monday night, reported local media.
-
Open gallery
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some Singaporeans were injured in the incident.
-
Open gallery
MFA said its embassy staff are providing consular assistance to affected Singaporeans.
-
Open gallery
Dozens of tourists were injured in the bombing, which appeared to have been targeted at foreigners.
-
Open gallery
MFA urged Singaporeans in Bangkok to take necessary safety precautions, avoid the vicinity of the explosion and to monitor the local news closely
-
Open gallery
A video has emerged online of a Chinese tourist's first-hand experience of the bomb that exploded at one of Bangkok's most popular shrines on Monday.
-
Open gallery
Posted on Shanghaiist's Facebook page, the video initially shows a regular scene of pedestrians walking on the sky bridge.
-
Open gallery
Then, at the 25th second, there is a sudden loud explosion that rocks the place and balls of fire could be seen.
-
Open gallery
Screams could be heard in the background and scenes of panic could be seen from the footage.
-
Open gallery
The male tourist shooting the video could be heard speaking in Mandarin, asking: "What's the situation?"
-
Open gallery
The bomb was detonated at about 7pm (8pm, Singapore time) in the middle of the city's rush hour, sending a fireball into the sky as commuters and tourists fled in panic.
-
Open gallery
The bomb was reportedly planted inside the Erawan shrine, which is situated just at the corner of the Ratchaprasong intersection and in front of the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok hotel, an area that many tourists would be familiar with.
-
Open gallery
The Erawan is an enormously popular shrine to the Hindu god Brahma but is visited by thousands of Buddhist devotees every day.
-
Open gallery
It is a major attraction for tourists from East Asia, especially China. Built in 1956, it is one of the Thai capital's top tourist attractions.
-
Open gallery
National police chief Somyot Poompanmuang told reporters the attack was unprecedented in Thailand.
-
Open gallery
A bomb on a motorcycle exploded on Monday just outside a Hindu shrine in the centre of the Thai capital, killing at least 12 people, police and a rescue worker said.
-
Open gallery
The blast was near the Erawan shrine at a major Bangkok intersection, police said.
-
Open gallery
"All I can say now is there has been an explosion in central Bangkok involving a motorcycle bomb," deputy national police chief Aek Angsananond told Reuters.
-
Open gallery
He said there had been fatalities, but could not confirm details.
-
Open gallery
A policeman at the scene and a rescue worker said 12 people had been killed.
-
Open gallery
Media put the number of the wounded at 20.
-
Open gallery
A Reuters witness at the scene said she saw pieces of human flesh near the blast site, and a soldier later told onlookers to move back, saying they were checking for a second bomb.
-
Open gallery
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
-
Open gallery
Thai forces are fighting a low-level Muslim insurgency in the predominantly Buddhist country's south, although those rebels have rarely launched attacks outside their ethnic Malay heartland.
-
Open gallery
The country has also been riven for a decade by intense and sometimes violent rivalry between political factions in Bangkok and elsewhere.
-
Open gallery
The army has ruled Thailand since May 2014, when it ousted an elected government after months of, at times, violent anti-government protests.
-
Open gallery
The Erawan shrine, on a busy corner near top hotels, shopping centres and offices, is a major tourist attraction, especially for visitors from East Asia.
-
Open gallery
Many ordinary Thais also worship there.
-
Open gallery
This file photo taken on September 9, 1999 shows tourists paying homage to the Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok.
-
Open gallery
Thai police have said the bomb was made of 5kg of TNT explosive.
-
Open gallery
A source said the bomb was hidden under a roadside bench in front of the Erawan shrine.
-
Open gallery
The explosion had a radius of 40 metres, the source added.
-
Open gallery
Nation TV reported that the death toll rose to 15.
-
Open gallery
The homemade bomb was detonated with an electronic circuit.
-
Open gallery
The TV station said 77 people were injured.
-
Open gallery
The Red Cross Society issued an urgent plea for the people to donate blood Tuesday as a lot of blood supplies are needed for the victims of the explosion.
"You want the truth? We don't know if the suspect is still in Thailand but I have to assume he still is because we've got no information that he left," Somyot said.
The government said the bomb was aimed at undermining the economy by hurting tourism, an even more vital industry as growth flags in other sectors.
The military government wants growth as it steers the country towards an election next year under a new constitution critics say will not end a decade of turbulent politics.
The government has been trying to reassure tourists and foreign governments, and plain clothes police have fanned out across Bangkok, said police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri.
The Thailand-China Tourism Association, which oversees more than 200 operators bringing Chinese visitors, said, however, the bomb had not scared people away. China is Thailand's biggest source of tourists. "There have been maybe one or two cancellations here and there. Nothing major," association resident Ronnarong Cheewinsiriamnuai told Reuters.
Chinese operators have not cancelled charter flights and overall, Ronnarong said, he had seen a dip of about 2 percent in Chinese visitors.
The junta said on Monday that according to its survey,"tourists are not too concerned", about the attack.