Despite new surveillance footage that might offer a possible clue to the bombing in central Bangkok on Monday last week that killed 20 people, Thai police yesterday said that the perpetrators might have already fled the nation.
Surveillance footage leaked to Thai media shows a man in a blue shirt placing a bag on a riverside walkway, then kicking it into the water shortly after the explosion several kilometers away at the Erawan Shrine.
About 18 hours later, at 1pm on Tuesday, an explosion took place at the same spot near a busy pier, causing no casualties.
Photo: EPA
Colonel Winthai Suvaree, a spokesman for Thailand’s ruling junta, also said that closed-circuit television footage showing the main bombing suspect was used to trace the route he took to and from the site of Monday evening’s rush-hour attack.
He said that a police sketch of the suspect had been distributed to border posts.
Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said he believes the perpetrator would have timed an escape carefully and “would not have much time to stay around.”
“I suspect that he may have left, but we will keep searching, in case we can find others who may be in the country or find clues, evidence and witnesses who may have seen him,” he told Channel 3 TV network.
Police have offered a reward that on Friday was raised to 3 million baht (US$85,000). On a police arrest warrant, the suspect is described as a “foreign man,” although a military spokesman said a connection to international terrorism seemed unlikely.
Thai police chief Somyot Poompanmoung said investigators would need some luck to catch those behind the attack.
“I have to say we need some luck. If the police have good fortune we might be able to make an arrest, but ... if the perpetrator has good fortune maybe they can get away,” he told reporters yesterday after a ceremonial show of security strength meant in part to reassure the public over safety.
So far, the operation to find who carried out the attack appears to have made little headway, with apparently contradictory statements coming from the military-backed government and the police.
Theories abound as to who was responsible for the attack.
They include ethnic Uighurs unhappy that Thailand repatriated to China more than 100 of their countrymen who had fled from there; Islamic separatists who have been carrying out an insurgency in southern Thailand for a decade; frustrated supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra angry at the military government that opposes his return to politics; and rival factions within the army contending for power.
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