BANGKOK: Bangkok blast site, at a religious shrine, is combed by Bomb squad experts Tuesday (Aug 18) for clues. The death toll climbs to 22 and hundreds are wounded in an unprecedented attack on the city.
The bomb was detonated at about 7pm (8pm, Singapore time) in the middle of the city’s rush hour, sending a fireball into the sky as commuters and tourists fled in panic.”I heard a very loud bang, it made the whole building shake so I ran outside to see what had happened,” Panupan Chansing, 20, a hotel worker at the nearby Grand Hyatt Erawan, told AFP late Monday. “I saw bodies lying on the ground and I saw vehicles on fire. I feel very sad and sorry that this has happened to Thai people… I’m scared.” “The death toll is now 21 with 123 wounded; of the dead 14 were killed at blast site,” he said, adding the bomb probably contained three kilogrammes of explosives. Military authorities updated the death toll to 22 later on Tuesday morning. Authorities have said the blast targeted foreigners, with Chinese, Hong Kong and Filipino citizens among the dead, while Singapore and Taiwan reported that some of their citizens were injured. The area, which is at a major traffic intersection flanked by five-star hotels and upscale shopping malls, remained cordoned off early Tuesday as police tightened security, with hundreds of schools closed and checkpoints thrown up across the city. As dawn broke police bomb experts photographed the blast site scouring for clues.
Government spokesman Werachon Sukhondhapatipak told reporters, “It’s too early to link the bomb to terrorist attack because no group has come to claim responsibility so far.” Islamic militants have carried out many attacks in other parts of Southeast Asia, including on Indonesia’s holiday island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people. But they have not made Thailand a prime target, and Sukhondhapatipak said that the style of bomb was not similar to those used by insurgents in the south…….
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Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha