Bangkok bombing: Police release sketch of CCTV suspect

Police officials told reporters Thursday that authorities believed those behind the blast must have been planned it in advance, maybe a month ahead of time, and likely included a site inspection team, bomb makers, bombers and an escape team.

Colonel Winthai said Thai security agencies were in close touch with other countries.

Over 20 people were killed in the blast that ripped through the popular tourist area in the heart of the Thai capital.

“It feels so weird to know that so many people have died here and so many have been injured and still laying, trying to fight for their lives”, Danish tourist Maja Brash said.

On Wednesday morning, a stream of people arrived at the shrine, kneeling in prayer, lighting incense and placing flowers at the site where 36 hours earlier the explosion scattered body parts across one of the capital’s busiest intersections.

Experts say the bomb attacks in Thailand could deal a heavy blow to its tourism sector which has seen 15 million foreign arrivals in the first half of 2015.

Deputy police chief Jaktip Chaijinda said investigators believed the man on the video resembled a foreigner more than a Thai.

He was seen wearing a yellow T-shirt, baggy shirts and two sweatbands, and appeared to leave a rucksack at the shrine on grainy CCTV footage released this week.

Police released a sketch depicting a young man wearing glasses, with black, bushy hair, a fair complexion, prominent nose and thick lips.

“The bombing suspect could probably be killed if he does not surrender”.

Police are yet to determine his nationality or if he is still in the country, however junta leader-cum-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha ruled out a possible link with “Uighur militants” Wednesday – a theory which had been doing the rounds in Thai media since the bombing.

Authorities also announced a reward of 1 million baht (USD 28,000) for information leading to his arrest.

The sources reportedly claimed Thai authorities had received intelligence Chinese tourists could be a target of attacks.

Those killed included several Thai victims, six Chinese, a Malaysian family of four, an Indonesian, a Singaporean woman, and a British teenager.

Initially reluctant to ask for outside help in the investigation of Monday’s blast, deputy national police spokesman Kissana Phatsanacharoen told Reuters “we sent a request for assistance”.

But national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri later said the prime suspect was overheard speaking a foreign language other than English.