Bangkok blast suspects surrender

Thai authorities have said they are hunting a foreigner and at least two other men suspected of carrying out the devastating bombing of a Bangkok shrine that killed at least 20 people.

This August 17, 2015, image, released by Royal Thai Police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri shows a man wearing a yellow T-shirt near the Erawan Shrine before an explosion occurred in Bangkok, Thailand.

Grainy security camera footage appeared to show a slender, young man with unkempt dark hair and a yellow shirt leave a backpack under a bench and calmly walk away from the scene shortly before the blast.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombing, an event which has no precedent in Thailand’s capital city. A 28,000 U.S. dollar reward has also been offered to anyone who can provide information leading to his arrest.

“I think it’s a good idea because people want to pay respects to the shrine”, she said. “Hopefully, he is still in Thailand”, he added.

However, authorities have sought Interpol help in tracking down the foreign man suspected of planting explosives.

However, police said previously they had interviewed two motorcycle taxi riders near the temple, as one of them gave a ride to the suspect of bombing.

Police also said they would take the sketch to a court and ask that an arrest warrant be issued for a man matching the description.

The site of the blast, the Erawan Shrine, is a revered spot among Thais and tourists that transcends religion.

On Thursday Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said he would not attend a memorial service for the victims at the shrine on Friday because of growing fears for his life.

The attack left at least 11 foreigners dead, with Chinese, Hong Kong, Singaporean, Indonesian and a family from Malaysia among the victims.

The attack was “unlikely” to be the work of worldwide terrorists and was not specifically targeted at Chinese tourists, according to Thailand’s ruling junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order. Meanwhile, seven bodies remained unidentified in the wake of bloody bomb blast, Nation newspaper reported.

Hospitals also discharged 55 injured people today, said Col Winthai Suvari, the spokesman of the National Centre for Peace and Order.

Bangkok has seen politically charged violence in the past decade; the deadliest, in 2010, killed more than 90 over two months and was centered on the same intersection where Monday’s bomb went off. But none of those attacks included a bomb that seemed meant to produce mass casualties.