Thai Police releases sketch of suspect in Bangkok blast, offers $28000 reward

“I don’t suspect one person, I suspect many people“, police head Somyot Pumpanmuang said.

The main suspect may have left the country, police said earlier Thursday, adding that they were “unsure” of his whereabouts.

Beyond the yellow T-shirt and dark-framed glasses he was wearing, little is known so far about the man who police said that they were “very sure” is the bomber.

The prime minister urged the main suspect to surrender to the police because he might otherwise “get killed to stop him from talking”.

Eleven foreigners were among the dead, including six from mainland China and Hong Kong.

The man is seen carefully removing his backpack inside the shrine – at the spot the bomb went off – then getting up without it and immediately leaving.

Police also said the suspect had material wrapped around his forearms, which they say could indicate he had previously suffered some kind of injury.

Mr Somyot said: “If citizens or anyone can give us information or clues that leads to the arrest of this man I have set a reward of one million baht”.

About 10,000 additional security forces have been deployed in Bangkok after the bombing, reassuring some tourists.

Police spokesman Lieutenant General Prawut Thavornsiri had expressed confusion about the original suspect’s origin, telling reporters on Wednesday that he “looks like a foreigner” but “might have been in a disguise and wearing a fake nose” to obscure his features.

All the fatalities had been identified, police medical officials said Thursday.

A soldier walks at Rajprasong Intersection in front of the Erawan Shrine. A central Bangkok shrine reopened to the public Wednesday after Monday’s bomb blast as authorities searched for a man seen in a grainy security video who they say was the prime suspect in an attack authorities called the worst in the country’s history. Details around the two unidentified men have not been released. It’s done by someone who knows the escape route. No one has taken responsibility of the bomb, which exploded during the rush hour of Monday evening.

Bangkok has seen politically charged violence in the past decade.

“We are confident at least three people were involved in this, but maybe more”, Kissana said.

Prawut told theBangkok Post that Tuesday’s pipe bomb was probably meant to land on a busy platform leading to a pier, but hit a pillar and bounced into a canal, sending a large plume of water into the air.