Thai PM: Bombing is country’s ‘worst ever incident’

Mr Chan-ocha described the bomb blast in Bangkok as the worst attack ever on the country that “aimed for innocent lives”.

On Tuesday, officials said they had identified a suspect wearing a yellow shirt who was seen on CCTV footage near the shrine.

The bomb was detonated around 7pm local time on Monday when the shrine itself was busy and the junction outside, Ratchaprasong, was also were crowded.

The perpetrators were targeting foreign tourists and intended to destroy the country’s economy and tourism, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said.

National chief of police Somyot Poompanmoung said the bomb was made with a pipe wrapped in cloth and weighed three kilograms. It used around 3kg of TNT according to some sources leading the chief to confirm that the bombers were intending to maim and kill people.

The appeal comes in the wake of Monday’s bomb blast in Bangkok which killed 27 people, including several foreigners.

“People might wonder if it was the Muslim insurgency fighting for an independent state in the deep south. Lots of bombs go off there but, the insurgents have never perpetrated an attack outside their own area, so this would be an entire change in tactics”. Many Thais also worship there. Pictured: The Erawan Shrine where the bombing took place.

However, no group has claimed the responsibility of the attack yet.

In Thailand, authorities earlier said the blast killed a Filipino citizen but there was no mention of that person on the revised list of casualties.

More than 120 people were injured in the blast that scattered body parts, spattered blood, blasted windows and burned motorbikes to the metal.

People search for missing relatives at the scene of an explosion near Erawan Shrine, central Bangkok, Thailand, August 17, 2015. “I saw there were hundreds of medics, police, fire brigades and looking at the ground trying to figure out what happened and if there were any wounded still in the area”. The army has ruled Thailand since May 2014, when it ousted an elected government after months of at times violent anti-government protests.

In a statement issued Tuesday morning, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “The public is urged to remain calm and monitor the situation regularly while security agencies conduct their operations”.