UpdateThailand's PM says police hunting male Bangkok bomb suspect in 'country's worst attack' that left 21 dead
Authorities blame explosion at famous Erawan Shrine on forces who 'want to destroy Thailand's economy'
Thailand’s junta chief said authorities are hunting a male “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,” Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha said, adding he was believed to be from an “anti-government group based in Thailand’s northeast”, the heartland of the anti-coup "red shirt" movement. "We are looking for this guy."
At least four Chinese, two Malaysians, two Hongkongers, one Singaporean, an Indonesian and one Filipino were among the 21 killed in a devastating blast in central Bangkok last night, authorities said, in what Prayuth Chan-ocha, described as the "worst ever attack" in the country.
READ MORE: Who was behind the Bangkok blast? Thailand says can’t rule out any group
Many more were injured when the bomb exploded outside a popular religious shrine in Bangkok, scattering body parts and debris across the city's commercial core.
Of the wounded, Thais made up the largest number with 42 being treated, followed by 28 Chinese. Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, the Philippines and Singapore all had one or more nationals wounded, according to a list released by the police.
Thailand is fighting a decade-long insurgency in its southernmost Muslim-majority provinces that border Malaysia, which has seen more than 6,400 people killed, mostly civilians. Prayuth’s comments suggest the investigation is shifting towards anti-government groups loyal to the ousted Shinawatra family, rather than the southern Muslim militants.
The "red shirts" are a grassroots network of the rural and urban poor, particularly from the country’s northeast, that support Yingluck and her ousted prime minister brother Thaksin Shinawatra.
