BANGKOK—Thai police investigators on Tuesday said they were homing in on a prime suspect captured in security-camera footage of the bomb blast that killed at least 20 people, most of them foreign tourists, in the Thai capital the night before.
A second explosive device was thrown Tuesday afternoon from a bridge over Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River. The bomb narrowly missed a busy pier where commuters wait for taxi boats, falling into the river where it exploded. No one was injured.
The blast, which threw a column of water into the air, deepened the sense of unease in a city where many commuters chose to stay at home and some tourists avoided the usually bustling malls and temples of downtown Bangkok.
Police Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri said the second device was similar in construction to Monday’s bomb.
In a closed-circuit video replayed on Thai television, a man wearing a yellow T-shirt and carrying a backpack entered the Erawan Shrine, where Monday’s blast occurred. The images then appeared to show him leaving shortly after without the backpack.
“He’s the bomber,” Lt. Gen. Prawut said. “We are very sure. “He carried the backpack in at 6.52 p.m. and put under a bench.”
The pipe bomb backed with what police said was 3 kilograms (or more than 6 pounds) of explosives was detonated a few minutes later, sending shrapnel ripping through the crowds of people thronging the popular site.
Lt. Gen. Prawut said that despite the footage of Monday’s bombing, it was still too early to build a full picture of what happened. “I think there are Thai people involved but it is too soon to tell what the foreign involvement is,” he said.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday told reporters that tourists had been singled out in particular to damage one of the few bright spots in the Thai economy, which has been struggling to regain momentum after Gen. Prayuth led a military coup to seize power last year.
So far no one has claimed responsibility for Monday’s blast. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan has said that Thailand had no prior intelligence regarding a potential security threat.