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 The government said the attack during the Monday evening rush
hour, in the capital's bustling commercial hub, was aimed at
destroying the economy. No one has claimed responsibility.
Raising tension in the city on Tuesday, a small explosive was thrown
from a bridge over a river but no one was injured, a police officer
at the scene said.
National police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said the suspect, who was
wearing a yellow shirt and was seen in a first CCTV image with a
backpack and then in a later one without the bag, could be Thai or a
foreigner.
"That man was carrying a backpack and walked past the scene at the
time of the incident. But we need to look at the before and after
CCTV footage to see if there is a link," Somyot told a news
conference.
Police earlier said they had not ruled out any group, including
elements opposed to the military government, for the bombing at the
Erawan shrine on Monday evening, although officials said the attack
did not match the tactics of Muslim insurgents in the south.
 Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha also referred to the man as a
suspect without giving details. He said there were "still
anti-government groups out there", although he did not elaborate.
Police were deployed to the blood-splattered site on Tuesday, some
wearing white gloves and carrying plastic bags, searching for clues
to an attack that could dent tourism and investor confidence.
The Thai baht <THB=TH> fell 0.57 percent to 35.57 baht, its weakest
in more than six years, on concern the bombing may scare off
visitors. Thai stocks <.SETI> fell as much as 3 percent.
Police said the death toll was 22, with 123 people wounded. They
said the blast was caused by a pipe bomb.
"Police are not ruling out anything including (Thai) politics and
the conflict of ethnic Uighurs who, before this, Thailand sent back
to China," Somyot said.
Thailand forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China last month.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of the Turkic-speaking and largely
Muslim minority have fled unrest in China's western Xinjiang region,
where hundreds of people have been killed, prompting a crackdown by
Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs have traveled through Southeast
Asia to Turkey.
The blast comes at a sensitive time for Thailand, which has been
riven for a decade by a sometimes violent struggle for power between
political factions in Bangkok.
An interim parliament hand-picked by a junta that seized power in a
2014 coup is due to vote on a draft constitution next month.
Critics have criticized the draft as undemocratic and say it is
intended to help secure the military's grip on power and limit the
influence of elected politicians.
The attack also comes as Prayuth, under pressure to get the economy
in shape, prepares to reshuffle his cabinet. Senior ministers have
dismissed the possibility of the bomb attack being related to the
cabinet reshuffle.
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FOREIGNERS KILLED
The Erawan shrine, on a busy corner near top hotels, shopping
centers, offices and a hospital, is a major attraction, especially
for visitors from East Asia, including China. Many Thais also
worship there.
Four Chinese, including two people from Hong Kong, were among the
dead, China's official Xinhua news agency said. Two Malaysians, a
Singaporean, an Indonesian and a Filipino were also killed,
officials said. Scores of people were wounded, including many from
China and Taiwan.
Occasional small blasts over recent years have been blamed on one
side of the domestic political divide or the other. In February, two
pipe bombs exploded outside a shopping mall in the same area as the
Monday blast but caused little damage.
Thai forces are also fighting a low-level Muslim insurgency in the
predominantly Buddhist country's south, but those rebels have rarely
launched attacks outside their heartland.
"This does not match with incidents in southern Thailand. The type
of bomb used is also not in keeping with the south," army chief and
deputy defense minister General Udomdej Sitabutr said in a televised
interview.
Tourism is one of the few bright spots in an economy that is still
struggling, more than a year after the military seized power in May
2014.
It accounts for about 10 percent of the economy and the government
had been banking on a record number of visitors this year following
a sharp fall in 2014 because of protests and the coup.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it was too soon to
tell if the blast was a terrorist attack. Spokesman John Kirby said
authorities in Thailand had not requested U.S. help.
(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Andrew R.C. Marshall and
Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Additional reporting by Khettiya Jittapong,
Martin Petty, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Arshad Mohammed and David
Brunnstrom; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by John
Chalmers)
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