Prime suspect who planted M67 explosive caught on security camera; CRES, police to meet tomorrow
Security at public places will be tightened after Sunday's bombing in downtown Bangkok, Defence Minister General Pravit Wongsuwan, who is also deputy director of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Pol Colonel Phanupong Singhara revealed that a suspicious person who might have planted the M67 grenade that went off in front of Big C Rajdamri Shopping Mall, killing one man and wounding several other people, was caught on a security camera.
Saying that the CRES had urged the Metropolitan Police chief to proceed urgently with the investigation of the blast, Pravit said that they would discuss this incident in detail in a meeting tomorrow. (July 28)
He said he had assigned the CRES to prepare information for the meeting about beefing up security at public places such as shopping malls, bus stops, subway stations and the Mor Chit Bus Terminal.
Pravit said the CRES would not finger any group as having carried out the bomb attack, pending the result of the police investigation.
Dismissing a rumour that state officials set off the blast to create an excuse for prolonging the emergency rule, Pravit insisted that the government wanted peace and order and the CRES objected to anything that would cause violence and chaos.
He said he was not sure whether the incident was linked to politics.
CRES spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Pravit had suggested that police check all security cameras in nearby areas. He also affirmed that the incident had nothing to do with a supposed bid by the CRES to extend the emergency rule.
Meanwhile, Pol Colonel Phanupong, an adviser to the Royal Thai Police, said after a meeting yesterday at the Metropolitan Police Bureau that investigators would try to locate the person seen on a surveillance video.
Phanupong said the bomb was an M67 grenade modified to be detonated by a timer, and it had a 15-metre radius of destruction. He said the bomb's assembly was complicated and difficult to do - unlike Southern insurgents' bombs that simply focused on using a large amount of an explosive substance to maximise destruction.
The investigation also found similarities to the May 14 bomb in Khokhram police jurisdiction and the April 3 bomb in Nang Leung jurisdiction but police were not sure yet whether the same group was responsible for all three. Sunday's bomber might have come from a different group and just had similar bomb-assembly knowledge, Phanupong said.
The camera footage of the possible bomber would be used along with evidence and witnesses' testimony in the investigation, which has made good progress, he said, adding that he would keep the work organised to prevent mistakes and to speed up the probe.
Police investigators now give equal weight to a political motive and a desire to create chaos. Phanupong said the city police had assigned more officers to patrol duty to prevent a recurrence of the incident.
Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Malinee Sukvejvorakij and head adviser Wanlop Suwandee yesterday visited the bomb victims at the Police General Hospital and Hua Chiew Hospital and presented Bt5,000 to each of them.
Pavorn Pornniphet, a 17-year-old student who suffered injuries to his right leg and right torso, said he had been heading home from a study session when he passed the bus stop where the bomb went off.
Malinee also gave Bt5,000 assistance money to Pranee Charoenwong, the ex-wife of the man killed by the blast, Tawatchai Thongmak, 51, in the hospital's lobby. Pranee, who had three children with Tawatchai, said she had heard that her ex-husband had been unemployed for three months and was looking for a job when he suffered the fatal injuries.
At Hua Chiew Hospital, Veerasak Saetae, 40, who suffered wounds to his head and right leg, said he had been about to take a bus home after going to the National Library looking for recipes for an examination for a hotel chef position.
As Veerasak must undergo surgery to remove shrapnel from his head, Malinee said the city would ask the hotel to postpone the chef exam.