PM vows to hunt down culprits
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Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Tuesday that there were two possible motives behind the bomb blast on Monday evening.
“The motives could be domestic politics or international conflicts. I have not yet ruled out any possibilities,” he said, as he emerged from a conference meeting with security agencies at Government House.
He added that he had not yet reached any conclusions as to the identity of the perpetrators but the bombing was the action of bad people who did not care about the loss of innocent victims.
“The incident was the worst ever [in Thailand] because it targeted innocent lives,” he said.
He said security agencies had investigated pictures from closed circuit TV and found some suspects but the picture was far from clear.
The PM said that from the initial reports, the placing of the bomb had been done by just one person and that, given the number of tourists visiting the shrine, it would have been difficult to prevent it.
“It aimed to have a negative impact on Thailand, both socially and economically,” he said, adding that the perpetrators also used social media to spread rumours about the closure of financial institutes to attack the country’s economy.
He also issued a summons for the person who posted on Facebook warning of violence in Bangkok during August 14-18, saying that this individual was a member of an anti-government group.
Asked if the suspect was an Uighur, the premier said, “I already told [you]. Why do [you] need me to say clearly who did it. I don’t know yet. We are investigating.”
The Erawan shrine is popular with Chinese tourists and this raises at least the possibility of a connection to the Uighurs – a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in the far west of China. Last month, Thai authority deported more than 100 Uighurs to China, a move that prompted widespread condemnation.
Prayut said he had sent condolence messages to international leaders whose citizens were victims of the blast and assured them that the Thai government would find and punish the perpetrators. It would also take care of their citizens as well as their embassies in Thailand.
