Reward in Bangkok Bombing Tripled, Police Say

Prime suspect… the Royal Thai Police released this image of a man in a yellow T-shirt near the Erawan Shrine before the explosion. Officials believe he had help in planning the attack, but have expressed doubt it is connected to global terrorist groups.

In a separate development, police said they were searching for a man shown in newly-released surveillance video at the scene of a second blast in the capital.

National police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri confirmed that the new footage was being examined to decide whether the man dropping the package into the water near Saphan Thaksin pier was a suspect.

Around a minute later he pushes the bag into the canal with his foot, kicking up a visible splash of water.

The explosive missed the pier and exploded in the river, with forensic teams spotting similarities between the incident and the attack on the previous day. “We don’t know yet”, he said.

“We don’t have his (the suspect’s) name… and even if I did why would I tell you?” he said.

Thai police hunting for the Bangkok shrine bomber have shown a copy of a Turkish passport to hotel staff and motorcycle taxi drivers and asked about visitors from Turkey, it has been reported.

The police investigation has largely been driven by video footage, but much has been too blurry to identify its subjects. “The footage can not be relied on (as evidence)”.

An arrest warrant has been issued for the main suspect, who is described as an unnamed foreign man with shaggy hair and thick rimmed glasses.

After being criticized for sending confusing messages, authorities appeared more guarded in their statements.

“Two million baht (around United States dollars 56,000) will be given to whomever provides information leading to the capture of the perpetrators and five million baht (USD 140,449) to officials who successfully investigate the case and carry out the arrests”, Thaksin’s oldest son, Oak Panthongtae said on social media.

With no-one claiming responsibility for the bombing, rumours and speculation have swirled in Thailand over the country’s worst single mass casualty attack in living memory. They include ethnic Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs) angry that Thailand repatriated to China more than 100 of their countrymen who had fled from there; Islamic separatists who have been carrying out an insurgency in southern Thailand for a decade; frustrated supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra angry at the military government that opposes his return to politics; and rival factions within the army contending for power.