Thailand indicts two for deadly Bangkok bombing

A military court in Thailand on Tuesday indicted two men accused of carrying out a deadly bombing at a central Bangkok shrine that left 20 people dead and more than 120 injured.

The Aug. 17 blast at the popular Erawan Shrine was one of the deadliest acts of violence in Bangkok in decades. Authorities have declined to call it an act of terrorism, presumably out of fear that it would hurt the country's huge tourism industry.

The two suspects, identified as Bilal Mohammad and Mieraili Yusufu, were indicted on 10 counts — none of them terrorism charges — connected to the blast. The charges included conspiracy to explode bombs and commit premeditated murder, said defense lawyer Chuchart Kanpai.

Both men have been described by officials as ethnic Uighurs  from western China's Xinjiang region. Officials say the blast was carried out by a people-smuggling gang seeking revenge on Thai authorities for cracking down on their operation.

Thai officials say there was no political or religious motive behind the attack, but skepticism about the police explanation on the shrine attack has abounded because of leaks, contradictions, misstatements and secrecy surrounding the investigation.

The two men have been held at an army base since their arrests in late August and early September.

Media were not allowed to enter the military court Tuesday, and the indictments took place before the two suspects arrived, said Chuchart.

They are being tried at a military court on an army base in Bangkok because national security cases have been handled by the military since May of last year, when the army seized power in a coup from an elected government.

Former National Police Chief Somyot Poomphanmuang said before his retirement in September that the case against the two suspects was supported by closed-circuit television footage, witnesses, DNA matching and other physical evidence, in addition to their confessions.

Security camera footage from the Erawan Shrine showed a man wearing a yellow T-shirt who sat down on a bench at the outdoor shrine, took off a black backpack and then left it behind as he stood up and walked away. Time stamps showed he left the shrine just minutes before the blast, during evening rush hour as the area, in central Bangkok, was filled with people.

Police believe that Bilal is the man in the yellow shirt and that Yusufu detonated the bomb.

Bilal was initially identified as Adem Karadag, which was the name on a fake Turkish passport in his possession when he was arrested Aug. 29.

Yusufu was arrested Sept. 1 near the Thailand-Cambodia border, carrying a Chinese passport indicating he was from Xinjiang. Police said his DNA and fingerprints were found in the two men’s raided apartments, including on a container of gunpowder.

Police said they have confessions from the two, and Bilal's lawyer says that his client admitted planting the deadly bomb at the behest of another suspect who remains a fugitive and that Bilal was induced to carry out the action after being promised that his emigration to Turkey would be expedited.

The Associated Press