THAILAND-BLAST/SHRINE Vigil held in Bangkok a week after blast ripped through shrine

Record ID: 142761

  • Title: THAILAND-BLAST/SHRINE Vigil held in Bangkok a week after blast ripped through shrine
  • Date: 24th August 2015
  • Summary: PEOPLE PRAYING HOLDING CANDLES
  • Embargoed: 8th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1R6RZHJGXI2SUB1TQAYDD6WXE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Buddhist monks and Bangkok residents gathered at an Erawan Shrine on Monday (Augst 24), a week after a blast ripped through it, killing 20 people including foreigners.
    The group lit candles as they paid their respects at the shrine to a Hindu deity popular with Asian tourists.
    A week after the country's worst bomb attack, Thai police said the trail had gone cold in the hunt for the bomber and they were unsure if the main suspect was still in Thailand.
    Faulty security cameras and a lack of equipment were hampering the investigation while an explosive device found at a building site on Monday proved a false alarm, not connected with the Aug. 17 attack on Bangkok's most famous shrine.
    The main evidence police have is security camera footage.
    Some of it shows the suspected bomber leaving a backpack and walking away. The young man with a yellow shirt and dark hair was also caught on closed circuit television camera leaving the scene on the back of a motorcycle taxi.
    But after that, there was very little, police said.
    Some at the shrine said the attack had made them fear for their safety in the city.
    "I still feel concern. I feel insecure when I go outside. I want them to speed up the case and arrest the suspect," said 40-year-old Theme Pantuwongrat.
    But others were confident that the police would apprehend the suspect.
    "Yes, I am confident. I have confidence in the police," said 39-year-old Pakchanya Chotkitratikan.
    The government said the attack was aimed at undermining the economy by hurting the tourism industry as growth flags in other sectors.
    Half the 14 foreigners killed were from mainland China or Hong Kong, but the Thailand-China Tourism Association, which oversees more than 200 operators bringing Chinese visitors, said there was little sign Chinese holidaymakers had been put off.
    The military government wants stable growth as it steers the country towards an election next year under a new constitution critics say will not end a decade of turbulent politics.
    Earlier, police said they had defused a bomb at a construction site but later said it was a small, old explosive not believed connected to the shrine blast and a second explosion at a pier on Bangkok's river the next day that caused no casualties.
    A Ministry of Information spokesman said six provincial government websites had been hacked by a group called the 'Fallaga Team', who said they were Muslims from Tunisia, but said the hackers did not get access to government data.
    Police said the hacking was not believed to be related to the bomb attack.
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