BANGKOK, Aug. 20 (UPI) — Two men Thailand police have identified as suspects in the Bangkok bombing have turned themselves in, according to local authorities.
The BBC reported the men were captured on security camera footage shortly before Monday’s explosion at Erawan Shrine. The pair said they are tour guides.
The men wore red and white T-shirts at the time of the blast, and they stood up from a bench before the main suspect, who wore yellow, sat down and left his backpack at the site. CNN reported the two accomplices are suspected of protecting and hiding the prime suspect as he decided where to plant the bomb on site.
A Thai taxi driver who believes he picked up the main suspect told CNN the man did not appear to be Thai, and did not speak at all, instead handing the driver a piece of paper with the name of a central city park in English. He spoke an unfamiliar language on his mobile phone, the driver said.
The attack killed 20 people and injured more than 120 others.
Police are questioning the two suspects and authorities say a total of 10 people are suspected of involvement. The prime suspect has been identified as a foreign national but the suspects were “unlikely” to be members of an international terror group, according to Col. Winthai Suvaree, a spokesman for the ruling military junta.
Thai news outlet Khaosod English reported police have 21 minutes of video footage on the “yellow-shirt man” including three after the blast which occurred at 6:55 p.m., as well as the footage of others identified as suspects: a man wearing a white shirt, a man wearing a red shirt and a woman wearing a black shirt.
The Bangkok bombing has captivated people across the country, but attacks in southern Thailand have killed more than 6,500 since January 2004, according toThitinan Pongsudhiral, chairman of the Center for Strategy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
