Bangkok rattled by a second blast, no casualties reported yet

2nd blast in the city in as many days

A bomb was hurled at a pier in the Thai capital on Tuesday but caused no injuries or damage, a day after a blast outside a crowded Hindu shrine killed 22 people and injured more than 120.

Witnesses said an explosive device was hurled from the bridge at Sathorn pier towards a parking lot at 1:20pm local time. The device bounced into the water and exploded there, the Bangkok Post reported on its website. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and the pier remained open. Transport minister Prajin Juntong was quoted as saying that the bomb was an improvised explosive device (IED).

Police converged on the site and closed a road near the pier to traffic. Divers attempted to recover pieces of the explosive device. Sathorn pier is a major terminal linking commuter boats plying on Chao Phraya river and the nearby Skytrain station. It is also a major tourist spot frequented by Chinese visitors.
An IED was blamed for Monday’s devastating explosion at the Erawan shrine. Tourists from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia were among the dead.

Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha on Tuesday branded the bombing the “worst ever attack” on Thailand, as he indicated who authorities believed were responsible for the explosion.

“Today there is a suspect… we are looking for this guy,” Prayut told reporters, adding the man was seen on closed circuit television (CCTV) at the blast site.

Prayut said the suspect was believed to be from an “anti-government group based in Thailand’s northeast” — the heartland of the kingdom’s Red Shirt movement that opposes the military junta.

Police on the lookout for suspect based on CCTV footage

Police in Thailand believe a man seen leaving a backpack near a Bangkok shrine is the bomber responsible for killing 22 people in the “worst ever” attack on the country.

The man, dressed like a tourist in a yellow T-shirt, shorts and sandals, is shown taking off his backpack and leaving it underneath a bench at a busy junction in CCTV footage.