The head of Thailand’s military government announced a second arrest in the bombing of a shrine that left 20 people dead.
After the arrest of the suspect at the Cambodian border, Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters the suspect is “a key perpetrator in this case.” He said the suspect is also connected to a bombing at a Bangkok pier the day after the shrine attack.
Officials say that bomb making materials and forged passports were found at the home of the arrested man.
“At first we thought he is Turkish. But we just found out two Turkish passports he is holding are all fake,” Prawut told CNN. “We also found many empty fake passports, also various kinds of evidence.”
Police also issued more arrest warrants for people they believe to be connected to the attack. Seven people are now sought with most of them foreigners. One, a Muslim woman named Wanna Suansan, is the only named suspect and is currently in Turkey.
Police would not say if either of the two men currently in custody is the man shown in closed circuit video dropping a backpack at the shrine location which is speculated to have contained the bomb.
Investigators in the bombing of a shrine in Bangkok, Thailand say they have video showing the suspected bomber leaving the scene of the attack.
The bombing has left 22 people dead and more than 120 injured. Officials said the death toll is hard to maintain because many of the bodies were dismembered in the blast.
Police say a man in a yellow shirt was shown on video approaching the area with a black backpack that is not shown when he leaves the area.
“It is quite clear that he is the perpetrator in this case,” said Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri, a spokesman for the Thai national police.
“There are individuals or a group of people in our country who have ill will to the country,” he said. “This is a movement that probably wishes for political gain, and to destroy the economy, destroy tourism, among other things.”
Gen. Prawut said it was obvious from the bomber’s mannerisms that he was a professional.
The bombing site was a major intersection between the shrine and a large shopping mall. The blast was so powerful that blood was found on the second story of the shopping mall.
Flooding in Thailand is forcing at least seventeen factories in a major industrial zone to close because workers are unable to reach the plants.
Officials say that the plants in the Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate east of the capital city of Bangkok have requested the help of the country’s Navy to pump the water out of their buildings. Workers have been unable to report for work because all roads into the facility are covered by floodwater.
“There is flood water outside the premises and on some surrounding roads,” Wilbun Krommadit of Amata said in a statement. “[The flooding is] blocking entry for workers who are unable to easily get to work.”
More than half of the country has experienced flooding this year although officials are stating they do not expect them to reach the levels of the 2011 floods that devastated the country. The facilities at the Industrial Estate cover 7,450 acres and produce parts for the major Japanese automakers.
Krommadit told Reuters that more than 100 pumps have been making a difference with the floodwater, lowering the levels at least six inches.
The flooding in Thailand has killed at least 76 people and more than 3 million have been displaced by the water.
A day after the Thailand government signed a deal with Muslim extremists who had been committing terrorist atrocities across the southern part of the country, a bombing has wounded six people. Continue reading →
Terrorists attempted to gain access to a Thailand military base yesterday and ended up finding themselves in the crossfire of an ambush.
Sixteen of the terrorists were killed in the attempted assault. Continue reading →
