Thai police issue arrest warrant for suspect in Bangkok bombing

Thai officials issued an arrest warrant today for the still unnamed suspect in Monday’s bombing in Bangkok. Authorities offered a $28,000 reward for help leading to the arrest of the “unidentified foreign man,” but apart from a rough sketch taken from security camera footage, police have few solid leads.

National police chief Somyot Poompanmoung said he did not believe the suspect acted alone, based on two apparent accomplices that appear near him in the footage.

“He didn’t do it alone, for sure. It’s a network,” Poompanmoung said, adding, “I believe there are some Thais involved.”

But no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, and police have released few details about their investigation, so it’s not clear what makes them think more than one person may be involved.

The bomb exploded inside a Hindu temple in central Bangkok during Monday evening’s rush hour traffic, killing 22 and injuring more than 100 others. The epicenter of the detonation is a popular tourist hub, studded with five-star hotels and upscale shopping malls. Carnage abounded in the adjacent Rachaprasong intersection, its streets littered with shattered glass, melted motorbikes, blood splotches, and body parts. It was “the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand,” Prime Minister Prayath Chan-ocha said.

Officials believe the bomb’s placement and timing indicate strategic, malevolent intent.

“Those who have planted this bomb are cruel,” Poompummuang said. “They aim to kill because everyone knows … the shrine is crowded with Thais and foreigners. Planting a bomb there means they want to see a lot of dead people.”

The lead suspect was caught on security footage leaving a backpack at the Hindu shrine before the blast. Local police say the yellow-shirted, shaggy-haired, bespectacled man is the bomber, but the prime minister cautioned against jumping to conclusions: “We saw some suspects [in the footage], but it wasn’t clear. We have to find them first.”

On Tuesday, a similarly crafted pipe bomb blew up at Sathorn Pier, another tourist attraction in Bangkok. No one was injured. According to police, the two bomb incidents could be related.

While bomb attacks are almost unheard of in the Southeast Asian monarchy, they are increasingly common in Thailand’s Muslim-majority southern provinces. In the past decade, a Muslim separatist group instigated a flare of violence, leaving more than 5,000 dead. The Islamic insurgents have never before targeted the country’s capital or civilians, choosing to aim at government authority figures instead.

But Thai officials are skeptical the bombing is a religiously motivated attack by Muslim insurgents, according to a Reuters report.

“This does not match with incidents in southern Thailand,” said General Udomdej Sitabutr, Royal Thai Army chief and deputy defense minister. “The type of bomb used is also not in keeping with the south,” he added.

With a military junta seizing control of Thailand last year, Bangkok is no stranger to governmental instability and politically charged attacks. But security analysts note this bombing seems different.

“It is certainly not like politically motivated attacks we’ve seen in the past which have generally been designed to grab attention but not cause casualties,” noted Matthew Wheeler of the International Crisis Group.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.