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Bangkok shrine bombingi

A bomb exploded on August 17, 2015, outside Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 21 people - including two Hongkongers - and injuring more than 120 others. The shrine is located near some of Bangkok’s most popular upscale shopping malls and was packed with worshippers and tourists at the time. Thailand’s defence minister said the bombing was aimed at foreigners to try to damage the country’s tourist industry.
    

 

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Eight people, including four believed to be ethnic Uygurs, have been detained in Malaysia for questioning in connection with last month’s bombing of a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people.

The Hong Kong government on Tuesday downgraded the red travel warning to Thailand to an amber alert, as the threat of terrorism dissipated six weeks after the deadly Bangkok shrine bombing.

Hong Kong photojournalist Anthony Kwan Hok-chun must wait at least two more weeks to find out if Thai police will pursue charges against him after he was stopped at a Bangkok airport carrying body armour.

Thailand’s police chief on Tuesday linked the Bangkok bomb to China’s Uygur minority, the first time he has referenced the ethnic group after weeks of skirting around their possible involvement in the attack.

The police investigation into the Bangkok shrine blast increasingly points towards a game-changing attack on Chinese tourists by Uygur militants or sympathisers, analysts say - but Thailand and Beijing are loath to admit it.

A suspect wanted over the bombing of a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people left Thailand the day before the attack and later flew to China, according to the police in Bangladesh.

A key suspect has admitted to meeting the alleged Bangkok shrine bomber outside a train station and handing him a heavy backpack containing a bomb just before the blast occurred the night of August 17.

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