Malaysian family decimated by Bangkok bomb

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Neoh Hock Guan was just about to pray at Bangkok's Erawan shrine on Monday when he dropped the candle he wanted to light.

"When I bent to pick it up, I heard the explosion," he told the Malay Mail. "The next thing I knew, none of my family members were in sight."

Neoh's wife, son, son-in-law, and four-year-old granddaughter were all killed as the blast ripped through the shrine, twisting metal and shredding bodies in an unprecedented attack in the Thai capital.

It would be several grim hours before their remains were found, the 55-year-old told media. Of the seven family members in the shrine on Monday evening, only he and his pregnant daughter survived.

The remains of a fifth family victim, his sister-in-law, still have not been identified.

"This incident is a black mark in our lives," Neoh told the Malay Mail in Bangkok.

The bombing killed at least 20 people -- including 11 foreigners, Neoh's family among them -- early Monday evening and wounded more than 100 others.

Bodies were peppered with ball bearings and motorcycles incinerated in the blast at one of Bangkok's busiest intersections. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.

A photograph taken earlier in the holiday and published in Malaysian media shows Neoh, a cake seller from the Malaysian state of Penang, and his family posing happily at a restaurant in Bangkok, their table laden with Thai dishes and glasses of beer.

Their smiling Thai driver is pictured in the same photo making the two-fingered "peace" sign.

The ethnic Chinese family had reportedly left Penang by train on Saturday, travelling north through Thailand on a trip that was to culminate in a few days in the capital.

Neoh's 20-year-old son Neoh Jai Jun, a student at university in Taiwan, had returned home to join them on the holiday, The Star reported.

He died in the explosion, along with Neoh's wife Lim Saw Gek, his son-in-law Lee Tze Siang, and granddaughter Lee Jing Xuan.

Pictured in pink in the family photograph, the four-year-old is the youngest confirmed victim of the explosion so far.

The body of Neoh's sister-in-law Lim Soo See is yet to be identified, reports said.

Thai authorities have said they are hunting a man shown on security footage strolling into the packed shrine and leaving a backpack before the explosion occurred.

The shrine reopened on Wednesday with Buddhist monks leading prayers. An unidentified member of Neoh's family laid bundles of clothes at the shrine to represent their loved ones, a monk said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Tuesday condemned the attack as a "heinous act", and said Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had assured him the perpetrators would be punished.

Neoh, however, told the Malay Mail he is still in a state of disbelief.

"I can't believe our holiday would end like this," he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Thai authorities focus on suspect seen in CCTV footage at blast site

BANGKOK, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Thai authorities said on Tuesday they were looking for a suspect seen on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage near a popular shrine where a bomb blast killed 22 people, including nine foreigners from several Asian countries.

The government said the attack during the Monday evening rush hour, in the capital's bustling commercial hub, was aimed at destroying the economy. No one has claimed responsibility.

Raising tension in the city on Tuesday, a small explosive was thrown from a bridge over a river but no one was injured, a police officer at the scene said.

National police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said the suspect, who was wearing a yellow shirt and was seen in a first CCTV image with a backpack and then in a later one without the bag, could be Thai or a foreigner.

"That man was carrying a backpack and walked past the scene at the time of the incident. But we need to look at the before and after CCTV footage to see if there is a link," Somyot told a news conference.

Police earlier said they had not ruled out any group, including elements opposed to the military government, for the bombing at the Erawan shrine on Monday evening, although officials said the attack did not match the tactics of Muslim insurgents in the south.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha also referred to the man as a suspect without giving details. He said there were "still anti-government groups out there", although he did not elaborate.

Police were deployed to the blood-splattered site on Tuesday, some wearing white gloves and carrying plastic bags, searching for clues to an attack that could dent tourism and investor confidence.

The Thai baht fell 0.57 percent to 35.57 baht, its weakest in more than six years, on concern the bombing may scare off visitors. Thai stocks fell as much as 3 percent.

Police said the death toll was 22, with 123 people wounded. They said the blast was caused by a pipe bomb.

"Police are not ruling out anything including (Thai) politics and the conflict of ethnic Uighurs who, before this, Thailand sent back to China," Somyot said.

Thailand forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China last month.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of the Turkic-speaking and largely Muslim minority have fled unrest in China's western Xinjiang region, where hundreds of people have been killed, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs have travelled through Southeast Asia to Turkey.

The blast comes at a sensitive time for Thailand, which has been riven for a decade by a sometimes violent struggle for power between political factions in Bangkok.

An interim parliament hand-picked by a junta that seized power in a 2014 coup is due to vote on a draft constitution next month.

Critics have criticised the draft as undemocratic and say it is intended to help secure the military's grip on power and limit the influence of elected politicians.

The attack also comes as Prayuth, under pressure to get the economy in shape, prepares to reshuffle his cabinet. Senior ministers have dismissed the possibility of the bomb attack being related to the cabinet reshuffle.

FOREIGNERS KILLED

The Erawan shrine, on a busy corner near top hotels, shopping centres, offices and a hospital, is a major attraction, especially for visitors from East Asia, including China. Many Thais also worship there.

Four Chinese, including two people from Hong Kong, were among the dead, China's official Xinhua news agency said. Two Malaysians, a Singaporean, an Indonesian and a Filipino were also killed, officials said. Scores of people were wounded, including many from China and Taiwan.

Occasional small blasts over recent years have been blamed on one side of the domestic political divide or the other. In February, two pipe bombs exploded outside a shopping mall in the same area as the Monday blast but caused little damage.

Thai forces are also fighting a low-level Muslim insurgency in the predominantly Buddhist country's south, but those rebels have rarely launched attacks outside their heartland.

"This does not match with incidents in southern Thailand. The type of bomb used is also not in keeping with the south," army chief and deputy defence minister General Udomdej Sitabutr said in a televised interview.

Tourism is one of the few bright spots in an economy that is still struggling, more than a year after the military seized power in May 2014.

It accounts for about 10 percent of the economy and the government had been banking on a record number of visitors this year following a sharp fall in 2014 because of protests and the coup.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it was too soon to tell if the blast was a terrorist attack. Spokesman John Kirby said authorities in Thailand had not requested U.S. help.

(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Additional reporting by Khettiya Jittapong, Martin Petty, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Arshad Mohammed and David Brunnstrom; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by John Chalmers)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Filipina hurt in Bangkok blast, says DFA

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has confirmed that a Filipina was among those injured in the blast in Bangkok Monday.

The unnamed victim sustained injury to her hearing due to the blast.

She is reportedly working with a foreign family in Thailand. She will be returning to the Philippines. DFA said the victim has requested that her identity be not revealed.

DFA earlier condemned the blast, saying the explosion had the "intention to sow terror."

"The Philippines stands in solidarity with the government and people of Thailand at this trying moment," DFA earlier said in a statement.

On Monday night, a blast rocked The Erawan shrine, which sits at the foot of the five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel. The site is surrounded by a string of other large hotels and malls that draw tens of thousands of visitors each day.

The death toll from a bomb blast in the Thai capital rose to 21 on Tuesday with 123 wounded, police said, with seven tourists from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore among those killed in the attack.

Of the wounded, Thais made up the largest number with 42 being treated, followed by 28 Chinese. Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, the Philippines and Singapore all had one or more nationals wounded, according to the list.

Authorities had said earlier that the blast killed a Filipino citizen but there was no mention of that person on the revised list. DFA is still verifying such reports.

On Tuesday, a new explosion rocked another tourist destination in Bangkok, barely a day after the first blast claimed many lives.

Thai media reported that the blast happened at Thaksin pier. The area is being used by tourists who take river boats to various destinations along the Chao Phraya River.

There are so far no reports of casualties in the new explosion. Unlike the first blast on Monday, the second explosion did not cause much damage.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com