Explosion Kills 20 at Bangkok's Erawan Shrine

[Delayed]

I will not make a joke about how and when the Junta needs a quick fix some poor smack gets 'identified and quickly confesses'. Burmese have already been used recently, so my money is on a red shirt faction. I have been waiting for such a reaction! It is a common progression when aggrieved people feel they have no recourse. Also the ban on political meetings, and the purging of the last elected governments leadership has created a very unstable situation. The leadership who for the most part was conciliatory in their actions and words no longer can offer that calming effect on the more radical and reactionary memberst If the scenario here is to repeat itself as elsewhere, then this atrocity will be copied again soon.

The shaky Thai economy could take another serious hit from this terror act This act will have shaken the elite, it was right in their backyard. More clampdowns? More arrests? Thailand is entering uncharted waters.

[CHEEKYFOKKER]

Hmm, let's see now, some poor immigrant Burmese bomb-maker or some of the Red-shirt faction.

''Pheu Thai strongly opposes Draft Charter.''

''Thaksin urges 'NO' for Charter.''

''Former Thai PM concerned by New Constitution Draft.''


Hard choice that one, I just don't know which one to put my money on........

[Mid]

Thaksin condemns bomb attack in Bangkok
August 18, 2015




Ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra last night expressed deep regret over the deaths of several people in the deadly bomb explosion at Ratchaprasong.

He tweeted on his Twitter last night that he was in Berlin and learned of the explosion in Bangkok with shock and deep sorrow.

He expressed deep condolences to families of those who were victims to the deadly explosion and strongly condemned those who were responsible.

He urged Thai authorities to speedily investigate and to cooperate with both local and foreign specialists to bring the culprit for punishment as soon as possible.

englishnews.thaipbs.or.th

[Mid]

Former Thai leader @PouYingluck condemns deadly #Bangkok blast - Latest updates here: http://bbc.in/1TMeHjg

[CHEEKYFOKKER]

Funny old thing, about as strong as his condemnation for the red-shirts who brought chaos and mayhem to the streets of Bangkok in 2010,

[Mid]

frhx4Jo.jpg

0pzZLR4.jpghttp://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...te=06&section=

[Jesus Jones]

Can't be that many Thais with a fuzzy-bob hair style.

[Mid]

Thai junta chief says Bangkok bomb 'suspect' identified
26 mins ago

Thailand's junta chief on Tuesday said authorities are hunting a "suspect" seen on CCTV footage near the scene of a bombing that claimed at least 21 lives in Bangkok and wounded scores more.

"Today there is a suspect who appeared on CCTV but it's not clear... we are looking for this guy," he said, adding the suspect was believed to be from an "anti-government group based in Thailand's northeast" -- the heartland of the kingdom's anti-coup Red Shirt movement.

digitaljournal.com

Bangkok Bombing: Junta Chairman Misquoted by AFP
18 August 2015


Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha speaks to reporters this morning at Government House.

BANGKOKImages purporting to be of Facebook posts predicting Monday's attack. The original posts can not be found and the images could be easily doctored.AFP report mistranslatedAFP story published earlier today.

In fact, Prayuth did not speculate as to who was responsible for the blast. Today police announced they are hunting for a man seen carrying a backpack

[Mid]

Authorities today shared two images taken from security cameras in which a man is seen wearing a backpack and carrying a plastic shopping bag, only to appear again without the backpack.

[Mid]

Aug 18, 6:40 AM EDT

"The yellow shirt guy is not just the suspect. He is the bomber," Police Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri, a police spokesman, told The Associated Press.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...08-18-06-29-14

[Delayed]

Bangkok bomb: CCTV video shows man leave backpack

• 21 minutes ago
  
• From the section Asia

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Media captionThe suspect, in yellow, deposits a backpack on a bench before walking off
Bangkok bomb

• Video CCTV of Bangkok bomb suspect emerges
  
  
  
• The messy theories behind the Thai bomb
  
  
  
• What do we know about Bangkok bomb?
  
  
  
• Why do people visit Bangkok's Erawan shrine?
  
  
  

Video footage has emerged of a key suspect police want to question in connection with the deadly bomb blast in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
The footage, from a CCTV camera, shows a man in a yellow shirt leaving a backpack in the Erawan Hindu shrine.
At least 20 people died in Monday's explosion, including nine foreigners, and more than 120 were injured.
In a separate attack on Tuesday, an explosive device was thrown at a pier in Bangkok, but no-one was hurt.
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Media captionMobile phone footage shows the moment of Monday's bombing in Bangkok
Still images of the suspect had already been released.
In the new footage, he is shown carefully and deliberately removing his backpack inside the shrine, getting up without it and immediately leaving the scene.
The spot where he was sitting is precisely where the bomb went off a few minutes later, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.
"There is a suspect... we are looking for this guy," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters.
Authorities were "quite close" to identifying the suspect, Thai government spokesman Maj Gen Weerachon Sukhontapatipak told the BBC, but other leads were also being pursued.
He said no motive was being ruled out, but that the bomber did not appear to be Thai and the character of the bombing was "quite different" from previous bombings by southern Thai insurgents.
He said security at transport hubs and tourist sites was being beefed up.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33969621

[Delayed]

Bangkok bomb: The messy theories behind the Thai attack

• 3 hours ago
  
• From the section Asia

The Erawan shrine in central Bangkok is popular with tourists but also localsBangkok bomb

• Video CCTV of Bangkok bomb suspect emerges
  
  
  
• What do we know about Bangkok bomb?
  
  
  
• Why do people visit Bangkok's Erawan shrine?
  
  
  
• 'There was total chaos'
  
  
  

The scale of the deadly bomb blast in Bangkok on Monday means it is unlikely to be motivated by domestic politics, writes analyst Pavin Chachavalpongpun. Here are some key considerations.
Shrine target provides a clue

Many may overlook the location of this attack, but ultimately it could prove crucial.
Erawan shrine is a popular spot, a top tourist attraction, and if one really wanted to cause maximum impact, this would be the obvious target.
But Thai culture is Buddhist and values religious tolerance. Such a religious location is not the kind of target any Thai rebel would choose, which suggests to me that those behind this attack may not be Thai.
Such an assertion is not to point fingers at other faiths, but merely to say that if this is about domestic politics, the Erawan shrine is not the place for that particular drama to play out.
Political violence is smaller-scale

The scale of the damage is too much, too great, too messy. If someone wanted to fulfil a domestic agenda, such carnage would be unnecessary.
Thailand has seen incidents in the past where someone might throw a grenade that injures a few people to get their political message across, but that is where it has generally ended.
There have previously been much smaller instances of political violence including at the same Ratchaprasong intersectionTheories about separatists and Uighurs

There are suggestions this could be related to the Muslim separatist conflict in southern Thailand, but the political violence has been limited to the three southern provinces - never the capital.
Others have mentioned the Muslim Uighur minority in China. They are unhappy that Thailand deported Uighur refugees back to China, where the minority complain of persecution, and might have wanted to punish the Thai state, the thinking goes. But we don't know enough at this point to support this theory.
However, international terror networks usually claim responsibility quickly after the incident, which hasn't happened in this instance so far.
A failure of intelligence

One thing is clear - this is a failure of the government's intelligence work.
Security is very lax in Bangkok and authorities take it for granted that in a Buddhist country no-one would do such a thing.
The military government could take advantage of the situation to stay in power longer, Mr Chachavalpongpun saysIt has been proven time and time again with anti-monarchy plots that there is no intelligence, simply imagination and scapegoats.
The government has come out to blame an "anti-government group based in Thailand's northeast" a reference to the Red Shirt movement that supports exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
The government could be taking advantage of this situation to assert its legitimacy and justify staying in power longer.
But none of the theories put forward are totally convincing on the scant information we have so far.
And the sheer scale of this attack threatens to dent confidence in public safety and investor confidence in the economy.
No international militant group has said they carried out the attack. But neither does it fit with the tactics adopted by domestic players.
If this attack does turn out to be part of a domestic political agenda, it would represent a radical departure.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun is associate professor at Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33970901

[Jesus Jones]

Hasn't the person in the cctv footage wearing yellow turned himself in claiming he isn't the bomber but an actor from Australia? Taking a selfie of himself saying how much he loves Thailand.

[Delayed]

I have been watching the cctv footage of the yellow shirted guy who left the back pack.

If he is the bomber he is a real amateur. Unless he deliberately dressed to stand out he made some real errors. Hair unless a wig and distinctive glasses, he is wearing distinctive pink runners, armbands (which could be hiding Tats), T shirt with logo, (people look to read). Then as he leaves he is using his phone. If he is telling an accomplice the bomb is planted then he to could be compromised. Since the cctv is time stamped then the authorities should be able to identify calls from a certain area made at that time, should they not?

He was also taking a risk leaving a backpack on the street in Thailand? easily picked up or looked in by a third interested party.

Also saw footage of a grenade attack on one of the water bus depots yesterday. Scary times.

[Delayed]

Link to grenade attack. Will not load for me, sorry.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33971373