UpdateBeijing rejects ‘hugely irresponsible’ speculation that Uygur militants were behind Bangkok bombing
No evidence Xinjiang militants exploded bomb, insists Chinese embassy, as Thai junta says it is unlikely international terrorists were involved
China has slammed "hugely irresponsible" Thai media reports that Uygur separatists carried out Monday's deadly bomb attack in Bangkok. Beijing's first comments on the bombing, which killed 20 people and injured more than 120, came as Thai authorities said they no longer believed international terrorists were behind the atrocity.
"Don't you think it is hugely irresponsible for anyone to draw a conclusion without any evidence?" a spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy told the South China Morning Post yesterday in response to media reports suggesting a "revenge motive" by militants from the troubled Xinjiang region after Thailand deported 109 Uygurs back to China last month.
Don’t you think it is hugely irresponsible for anyone to draw a conclusion?
"The Thai authorities are still investigating now; no one should jump to such a conclusion at this stage," she said.
Thailand's junta said they suspected at least 10 plotters were involved in the attack on the Erawan Shrine, which was crowded with tourists, but Chinese nationals were not the "direct target".
"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," military spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said yesterday in a televised statement.
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