Thai Police: This Is the Bangkok Bomber

No injuries as a 2nd bomb rattled a ferry pier in the city today
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 18, 2015 4:27 AM CDT
Updated Aug 18, 2015 6:56 AM CDT
2nd Bomb Rattles Bangkok
This image taken from security footage provided by Thai PBS shows the moment of an explosion in central Bangkok.   (Thai PBS via AP)

Thai police have released stills of security footage they say shows the man—wearing a yellow T-shirt—who set off the explosion in central Bangkok yesterday, killing 20 and injuring 140. "The yellow shirt guy is not just the suspect. He is the bomber," a police rep tells the AP. The images were taken from video at the Erawan Shrine before the bombing. In some, the man is carrying a backpack. In others, it's missing. Video footage spreading on Thai media apparently shows the same man taking off his backpack while sitting on a bench at the shrine. He then walks away, leaving it behind. A police chief says the bomb was made with a pipe wrapped in cloth. Earlier today, a second explosion hit the capital, this time at a ferry pier, but no one was hurt, police say.

A police rep says an explosive device was thrown from a bridge and exploded at a pier after falling into the Chao Phraya River below. Security camera footage shows a sudden blast of water dousing people on a walkway at the pier as bystanders ran for safety. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the country's military-installed prime minister, describes the first bomb as "the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand," the BBC reports. "There have been minor bombs or just noise, but this time they aim for innocent lives," he says. "They want to destroy our economy, our tourism." He said in a televised address that the government will expedite "all investigative efforts to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice." The victims include five Thai, four Chinese, two Malaysians, and a Singaporean. The nationalities of the remaining eight are unknown. (More Thailand stories.)

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