2 suspects in Bangkok bombing cleared
Two suspects in the bombing at a shrine in Thailand's capital that killed 20 people were cleared Thursday after one of them turned himself in, saying he was a tour guide and the other man was a Chinese tourist, officials said.
Police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri said the two men “were most likely not involved” in Monday's blast, the Associated Press reported.
Thavornsiri earlier released a still from surveillance footage showing two "persons of interest" in the investigation — one wearing a red top and the other a white top. Police said the pair were standing close to the man in a yellow T-shirt suspected of being the bomber as he removed his backpack minutes before Monday's blast, the Bangkok Post reported.
Police said the two were unlikely to have helped the bomber because they seemed shocked by the explosion, according to the newspaper. The man in the red top sat on a bench in the Erawan Shrine and got up, before the suspected bomber sat down in his place and left his backpack there, where the bomb exploded.
The two men left the shrine and were walking down a street when the device went off. They seemed to be spooked and jumped for cover, indicating they weren't involved in the attack, the paper said.
Earlier Thursday, the Thai government said the bombing is "unlikely" to have been carried out by international terrorists.
Police believe at least 10 people were involved in the attack and that it may have been planned at least a month in advance, the BBC reported.
In a televised statement, military spokesman Col. Winthai Suvaree said: "The security agencies have collaborated with intelligence agencies from a lot of countries and have come to the same preliminary conclusion that the incident is unlikely to be linked to international terrorism," according to the Associated Press.
He said that Chinese tourists — four Chinese nationals are reported to be among the dead — were not the direct target. The Erawan Shrine is popular with Chinese tourists as well as people from Thailand.
On Wednesday, police released a sketch of the man they believe is the bomber. And on Thursday, they described him as "Caucasian, Arab or mixed race," 20-30 years of age, and about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, the Bangkok Post reported.
An arrest warrant has been issued for the main suspect, who has not been named. On Thursday, police doubled a reward for information leading to the suspect’s arrest to 2 million baht ($56,000). National police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters a Thai businessman added to the previous 1 million baht reward, according to the AP.
A motorbike taxi driver who gave his name as Kasem said he picked up a man matching the main suspect’s description near the shrine after the bomb exploded,the Bangkok Post reported, citing Thai Channel 3.
He said the man gave him a piece of paper with the words "Lumpini Park" — an inner-city park in the capital — written on it in English and then had a phone conversation in a language that was not Thai or English. Officials described the suspect as a "foreign man” Wednesday, but police said they're not sure he is from another country, the AP reported.
Police are also offering a 30,000 baht ($850) reward for any information about a tuk-tuk driver who took the suspected bomber to a hotel near the shrine Monday evening, according to the Bangkok Post.