BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand’s military junta said Thursday that this week’s deadly bombing in downtown Bangkok that killed 20 people was “unlikely” to have been carried out by international terrorists.
Military spokesman Col. Winthai Suvaree also said that Chinese tourists, who were among the victims, were not the “direct target.”
“The security agencies have collaborated with intelligence agencies from a lot of countries and have come to the same preliminary conclusion that the incident is unlikely to be linked to international terrorism,” he said in a televised statement.
Winthai did not give any details on how authorities reached this conclusion, which raised questions after police issued an arrest warrant for the prime suspect, describing him as an unidentified “foreign” man.
At least 20 people were killed and more than 120 injured in Monday evening’s blast at the Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist site that is known to attract Chinese visitors. Four Chinese citizens were among the dead.