Thai police say suspect admits he was near shrine before blast

The latest suspect in Bangkok's deadly bombing has admitted being near the shrine where the attack took place but denied placing the bomb, Thai police said Wednesday, as arrests fuel speculation that the blast may be linked to Thailand's forced repatriation of members of China's ethnic minority Uighur population.

The mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighurs, whose homeland is China's far western Xinjiang region, say they face cultural and religious persecution and economic marginalization under Chinese rule, and some have turned to violence. China has accused some Uighur activists of separatist "terrorism."

Thai authorities said the latest suspect, identified only as a foreigner, was arrested Tuesday near Thailand’s border with Cambodia as he was attempting to flee. He is the second suspect arrested in connection with the attack.

Another man was arrested near Bangkok on Saturday in a raid on an apartment, in which authorities said they found stacks of fake passports, the explosives TNT and C4, and fertilizer, which is sometimes used to make bombs. Both suspects are being interrogated by the military and have not yet been formally charged.

Authorities also said this latest suspect's fingerprints matched those found during Saturday's apartment raid. "We can confirm that the man's fingerprints match with those found on a bottle that contains a bombing substance," national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said. "He could be the one who brought the bomb out of this apartment or he could have brought the bomb to the crime scene."

Deputy national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda was asked by reporters if the man, whose name and nationality have not been released, had confessed to involvement in the Aug. 17 blast at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine or another explosion the following day that occurred near a busy river pier but caused no casualties. The Erawan blast killed 20 people and injured more than 120.

"It is in the nature of the suspect to deny it, but he admits that he was there in the area when it happened," Chakthip said.

Thai authorities say the latest suspect resembles a man who appeared in a surveillance video at the shrine. The man in the video, wearing a yellow T-shirt, placed a backpack on a bench and then left the area shortly before the explosion.

Separately, police announced Wednesday that they are seeking the arrest of a Turkish man, Emrah Davutoglu, whom they believe is also linked to the blasts. He is at least the third Turk among eight suspects for whom arrest warrants have been issued.

Davutoglu is the husband of a Thai woman for whom an arrest warrant was earlier issued because she had rented the apartment where the bomb-making materials were found. She is now living in Turkey, and has said she is innocent.

With no claim of responsibility, there has been widespread speculation about who might have planned the attack, from supporters of Uighur Muslims to opponents of Thailand’s military government to southern ethnic Malay rebels and foreign radicals. 

It is unclear if the two detained men are Turkish, but police have been interrogating them though a Turkish translator and fake Turkish passports were seized in one raid, Reuters reported. Many Uighurs travel through Southeast Asia to try to get to Turkey, which has a large Uighur diaspora.

The possible Turkish connection has fueled speculation that the suspects may be part of a group seeking to avenge Thailand's forced repatriation of ethnic Uighurs. When the country sent 109 Uighurs to China in July, protesters smashed windows and ransacked parts of the Thai consulate in Istanbul.

The Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, an advocacy group, has said that those who were repatriated could face criminal charges and harsh punishment under China's opaque legal system.

The Erawan Shrine is especially popular with Chinese tourists, fueling speculation that it might be a target for people who believe the Uighurs are oppressed by China's government. Beijing says that some Uighurs are "terrorists," and a group of Uighurs has been smuggled out of China to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Syria.

Asked about speculation in Thai media that the man is a Chinese Uighur, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that officials had noted the reports.

"We are in close communication with the Thai side," she said. "The Chinese side will closely follow the development of the case. We believe that whoever carried out such a crime should be dealt with according to law."

The Turkish Embassy in Bangkok said that it has asked the Thai government to confirm whether the suspect arrested Saturday is a Turkish citizen, and that it regrets "the speculative news reports regarding the nationalities of the arrested and sought suspects."

Wire services