Huge explosion rocks central Bangkok - casualties reported

[Susanoo]

UN and foreign governments express sorrow

THE NATION August 19, 2015 1:00 am

Foreigners take in the scene outside Erawan Shrine where a bomb was detonated on 17 August in central Bangkok, Thailand, 18 August 2015. A bomb exploded on 17 August near a Hindu shrine in a busy business district of Bangkok that is popular with tourists.

THE WORLD expressed its sympathies to Thailand after the Monday night explosion, which killed at least 20 people including many foreigners.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was shocked to learn of the bombing. His spokesman said in a statement that Ban expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and to the people and government of Thailand.

"The secretary-general was shocked to learn of the explosion in Bangkok today close to the Erawan Shrine and the loss of life of innocent civilians." He also wished the injured a quick recovery.

France condemned the attack, saying it wished to extend its deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims.

"Those who were responsible for this attack must be identified and brought to justice," Foreign Minister Alexandre Giorgini said.

In a statement, the deputy ministry spokesman said the French Embassy was monitoring the situation closely.

The US government also condemned the violence, while noting that it remained unclear who was behind the blast. The State Department warned US citizens to avoid the area.

Spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear whether any Americans were among the casualties. The US stood ready to help Thai authorities if asked.

The European Union also expressed its "sincere condolences" in a statement late on Monday. "Our thoughts are with the people of Thailand at this time of shock and grief," its statement said.

In this region, countries expressed sympathy, while also monitoring the situation to see if their citizens had been wounded.

"The Malaysian government, through its embassy in Bangkok, is working closely with Thai authorities in determining if any Malaysians were among those affected by the bombing," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

 

[tonychat]

pls tell me who you want to compare with?
without pap, singapore have no money. if your opposition win the election, we will have no money pretty soon too.

Let me put this stupid and uneducated statement of yours for the whole forum to checked on..

 

[eErotica69]

well like indonesian people have to come to singapore to look after old people here? do they have money?
pinoy people come to singapore for jobs and look after old people? do they have money?
ten of thousands of malaysian everyday at causeway ? do they have money?

do not take sucess for granted.
without pap. singapore will be nothing. if leave to the communist chinese party to rule singapore in 60's. singaporean will be going to malaysia to look after their old people.

it is disgusting that people like you take wealth for granted. It fall from the tree on your head. Idiot opposition supporters. Pls go to your moron friends and debate with the idiots at SDP meet. Come here and i fxxk you upside down.

Tonychat that twit is not even an opposition supporter!!

He is a Malaysian and he has no interest in the future success of Singapore whatsoever.

 

[eErotica69]

I thot junta pm already issued statement they had identified few suspects from anti govt group in north east (read red shirts)?
Sounded so confident Now keep quiet because no one school of thought supported that and now pretend to change tack and hunting for yellow t shirt guy instead?

It could be 贼喊抓贼。 The Junta could be the culprit to create chaos to hold grip to power without election.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

She was a Manchester United fan, a chatty lady, and a loving wife - but above all, friends of Ms Melisa Liu Rui Chun remember her for her hearty laughter.

It is something they will now miss dearly after Ms Liu, 34, was killed in a bomb blast that ripped through the evening crowd at Ratchaprasong intersection in the Thai capital Bangkok on Monday night.

Her husband, Mr Ng Su Teck, 35, and her brother are among the seven Singaporeans injured.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singaporean-who-died-in-bangkok-blast-was-a-loving-wife

 

[yinyang]

B1m bounty on Erawan bomber's head
19 Aug 2015 at 13:45 http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/661460/b1m-bounty-on-erawan-bomber-head

Police are offering a one million baht reward for information leading to the arrest of the man who placed the bomb at the Erawan shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people and injured another 125 on Monday night.

The reward, authorised by national police chief Somyot Pumpunmuang, was announced in a tweet early Wednesday afternoon by assistant national police chief Prawut Thavornsiri.

Police are hunting for a "Middle Eastern-looking man" who was filmed by a closed circuit TV camera, and say they are "more than 50% certain" he is the bomber.

The young, slightly built man wearing a yellow T-shirt and black-framed glasses, was carrying a backpack. In the surveillance video he wanders around the shrine, and is seen sitting down and putting down backpack. Moments later he leaves the shrine, without the backpack, and heads onto the street.

 

[Narong Wongwan]

It could be 贼喊抓贼。 The Junta could be the culprit to create chaos to hold grip to power without election.

Yes vile military has killed own citizens before to hold on to power.
Surprisingly the palace is abnormally quiet on this incident so far.....no official condolence statement yet?

 

[NanoSpeed]

At the scene now.

 

[singveld]

Yes vile military has killed own citizens before to hold on to power.
Surprisingly the palace is abnormally quiet on this incident so far.....no official condolence statement yet?

yeah the angmoh police normally closed the scene of the crime.
so that they can go back to find if they miss any clues
they clean the scene of the crime on the second day
they open the place on third day

it is like they do not want to find the bomber. because they already know him (yellow t-shirt) or cover up or they are the real mastermind.

 

[singveld]

At the scene now.

View attachment 23122View attachment 23123View attachment 23124

you finally made it there
afterall

yeah! did any bird put any holy water on your head in the shrine.

 

[singveld]

At the scene now.

View attachment 23122View attachment 23123View attachment 23124

samsung note 2. you have big hands or gal.

 

[singveld]

Let me put this stupid and uneducated statement of yours for the whole forum to checked on..

thank you .

 

[NanoSpeed]

you finally made it there
afterall

yeah! did any bird put any holy water on your head in the shrine.

No. The birds have better things to do. I have taken a picture of a news presenter. The Japanese Television was there too. The explosion chipped off the right cheek of the statue. The bomb was placed right at the lamp post behind the stall that used to sell birds.

 

[Susanoo]

Australian model accused of Bangkok bombing blames ‘jealous haters spreading gossip’ online

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 9:20am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 3:36pm

Ben Westcott
[email protected]

A man wanted for questioning by Thai police in connection with the Bangkok bombing (left) and model Sunny Burns (right). Photo: SCMP Pictures

An Australian model and English tutor who was questioned by Thai police on Tuesday night after being accused online of being the Bangkok bomber said he was in shock and saddened by what had happened.

Sunny Burns, originally from Sydney but currently working as an English "personal trainer" and part-time actor in the Thai capital, handed himself in to authorities after social media users wrongly identified him as being the man police suspect was responsible for the Erawan Shrine bombing, which killed at least 22 people on Monday night.

A selfie taken by model Sunny Burns during his interview with Thai police. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Burns, who has worked as a model in Hong Kong, wrote on Facebook that he was yelled at by a Thai police chief and had his home searched for bombs or bomb-making material, but still said he was treated well by officers overall.

He said he was cleared when CCTV footage emerged of him on his way from the gym to teach an English class in another part of Bangkok.

Watch: Sunny Burns stars in mini soap opera "Keep in Touch"


“This is all because of social media and some jealous hater spreading gossip,” Burns wrote on Facebook. “Mum, I’m safe and more worried about the people injured in the attack.

“Stay safe everyone and pray for Thailand.”

A friend and former colleague of Burns in Bangkok told the South China Morning Post the Australian was “a very nice man who was definitely not a terrorist”.

The Royal Thai Police have been contacted for comment.

Burns told Australian television programme Sunrise on Wednesday morning he was worried he was going to become like Schapelle Corby, an Australian who was imprisoned in Indonesia in 2005 for drug trafficking in a high-profile case.

“I would never wear those [clothes],” he later wrote to his followers on Facebook, referring to the bomb suspect’s yellow shirt. “I’m a fashion blogger.”

Burns was one of two Westerners questioned by Thai police over their similarity to the suspect in the CCTV footage.

A second man, also with curly hair, was taken in for questioning by police at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Tuesday night – his picture was also widely circulated on social media.

He was later released.

 

[Susanoo]

Bangkok residents flock to reopened Erawan Shrine to pay respects to bomb attack victims

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 11:33am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 10:03pm

Samuel Chan in Bangkok and AFP

Bangkok residents flocked to attend a vigil at the Erawan Shrine, scene of Monday's bomb attack. Photo: Sam Tsang

As dusk fell on Wednesday, hundreds of local Bangkok residents flocked to lay flowers at the city's Erawan Shrine to commemorate to those who were killed there in Monday's bomb attack, outnumbering foreign tourists who usually throng the Hindu shrine.

Security appeared to remain at a low level with less than ten police officers and a handful of soldiers seen present at the shrine. No roadblocks had been set up in the surrounding areas.

Nearby luxury shopping malls, however, stepped up security measures with customers being screened by metal detectors at the entrances to many shops.

The shrine’s kiosk which sells incense sticks had reopened by evening and workmen were still busy repairing the adjacent pavilion where traditional Thai dancing performances are usually staged, which was destroyed in the blast.

A Bangkok man looks at a picture of the prime suspect in the bombing issued by Thai police on Wednesday. Photo: Sam Tsang

“I am here to show that we are not afraid,” said American Frank Hull, who was back in Thailand for holiday after having spent several years teaching theology and English at a local Thai university over a decade ago.

About a hundred tourists attended the reopening of the Erawan Shrine on Wednesday afternoon where a blast killed 20 people and injured 125 more, as police hunted a man shown in security footage calmly planting what is believed to be the bomb.

Thai Buddhist monks led prayers this afternoon at the shrine, where tourists - a few of them Chinese - as well as many Thai worshippers gathered to offer prayers to the victims of the explosion, while some 50 international journalists were present at the site.

There was no visible military presence, though three police officers were stationed at the shrine, where the mood was calm. The policemen later even took photos of each other in front of the temple.

Singaporean tourist Kelvin Leong, who is of Chinese ethnicity, said he did not feel uneasy about coming to the shrine despite the attack two nights ago.

“You see, this is about faith," he said, adding that a previous plan to visit Erawan was cancelled. "I can’t afford to miss it again this time.”

An officer poses for a photo in front of the shrine. Photo: Samuel Chan

“I’ve heard the attack was targeting Chinese tourists, but I am not too worried,” said Yang Yong, from China's Yunnan province, who is travelling with his family of six. “Even if it happened [to me], it would be my fate.

“But I expected the Thai government would have stepped up the security right after it happened, so I suppose it’s safe now.”

While the shrine was largely repaired, the iconic four-faced Buddha, a golden statue sitting at the centre of the temple, had a chunk of its chin blown off in the blast.

The twisted metal fence and broken windows of the adjacent Grand Hyatt Hotel are also grim reminders of the blast.

The Buddha's chin was blown off during the blast. Photo: Sam Tsang

The bomb struck early on Monday evening as worshippers and tourists crowded into the Erawan shrine in the Thai capital’s commercial heart, but no-one has yet claimed responsibility.

The unprecedented attack on the Thai capital left at least 11 foreigners dead, with Chinese, Hong Kong, Singaporean, Indonesian and a family from Malaysia among the victims.

More than 100 other people were wounded by a blast that shredded bodies and incinerated motorcycles at one of the city’s busiest intersections.

Police said a second explosion at a Bangkok pier on Tuesday that caused no injuries may be linked, deepening fears for Bangkok residents with police conceding they do not know who was responsible.

Around a dozen Buddhist monks led prayers at the Erawan shrine as it reopened early on Wednesday while devotees, including tourists, genuflected and held joss sticks.

A relative of the dead Malaysians had laid bundles of clothes at the shrine to represent the lost loved ones, according to a monk.

The shrine - a popular tourist attraction that typifies the kingdom’s unusual blend of Hindu and Buddhist traditions - and its surrounding had already been largely restored.

Twisted iron railings were the only immediate sign of the carnage, which police believe was caused by a bomb made up of 3 kilograms of explosives and ball bearings.

One devotee had more reason than most to give thanks.

The shrine is a popular tourist attraction that typifies the kingdom’s unusual blend of Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Photo: EPA

Tourists and worshippers visit hours after the Erawan Shrine reopened. Photo: AP

Tommy Goh, 56, a Thai-Malaysian from Penang, said only a delayed taxi from his hotel spared him from being at the shrine around the time of the blast.

“Every year I come down to this shrine. We were meant to be here around 6.50-7pm [on Monday] but the taxi didn’t arrive from the hotel ... so we went somewhere else,” he said. “Ten minutes later and it could have been so different.”

Police released images on Tuesday showing a man, apparently young, slightly built and wearing a yellow T-shirt and dark shorts, walking into the shrine with a backpack.

In the video he calmly places the backpack underneath a bench and then walks away clutching a blue plastic bag and what looks like a smartphone.

The bomb exploded several minutes later, leading Thailand police to make the man their prime suspect.

A small explosion on Tuesday by a bridge at the city’s Chaopraya river has been tied to Monday’s bomb.

Colonel Kamthorn Ouicharoen, of Thai bomb squad police confirmed the bridge bomb was the same type as the one detonated at the Erawan Shrine.

A woman pays respects at the Erawan Shrine at Rajprasong intersection in Bangkok. Photo: AP

“It’s exactly the same, the equipment used to make it, the bomb size,” he said.

“Police will resume collecting evidence this afternoon,” he added.

Thailand has experienced a near-decade long political crisis that has seen endless rounds of street violence.

But never anything on the scale of Monday’s bomb.

A festering insurgency by Muslim rebels in the Thai south has claimed 6,400 victims, but is a highly localised conflict.

 

[Susanoo]

5 out of 7 dead: Happy holiday turns to tragedy for Chinese Malaysian family decimated by Bangkok bomb

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 3:02pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 3:02pm

Agence France-Presse in Kuala Lumpur

The happy family poses at a restaurant in Bangkok: From left are Lim Su See, Neoh Ee Ling, Lee Jin Xuan, Lee Chee Siang, their Thai travel guide, Neoh Hock Guan, Neoh Ka Chuan, and Lim Siew Gek.

Malaysian tourist 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, were found Tuesday night, The Star reported.

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

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

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.

A photograph taken earlier in the holiday and published in Malaysian media shows Neoh, a cake seller from the 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.

Malaysian tourists react emotionally as they hold incense and pray before the sacred Erawan Shrine, as it reopened to the public. Photo: EPA

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 has yet to be identified, reports said.

“We cannot believe four members of our family have been killed in the bomb blast. What was supposed to be a happy holiday has turned into a nightmare for all of us,” Neoh’s brother Neoh Hock Bee, 48, said.

“I pray the Thai police will capture those behind the attack. They should be punished severely.”

He said the remains of the family members would be flown home Wednesday night.

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.

 

[Susanoo]

Thai police explore Uygur plot in Bangkok blast as police hunt for ‘foreign’ suspect, two others

Intelligence sent to Thai officials indicate Chinese tourists are possible targets

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 3:13pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 10:37pm

Staff Reporters

A composite image of the suspect released by Bangkok Police. Photos: EPA

The probe on who could be behind the deadly blast in central Bangkok is focusing on a revenge motive by Uygur militants as it has now emerged that Thai authorities received intelligence that Chinese tourists could be a target of attacks.

This comes as Bangkok police on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for "foreign man" - possibly from Europe or the Middle East - seen in footage of the blast, after revealing a sketch of the prime suspect showing a man with fair complexion, dark hair and spectacles.

"He had white skin and must have been a European or have mixed blood, perhaps with Middle Eastern blood," police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said.

Thai police say they are looking for two other male suspects captured on CCTV footage near the scene of the bomb blast, bringing the number of suspects police have said they are actively looking for to three.

"The person in red and the person in white are also suspects," Prawut said in a televised interview, referring to two men seen in grainy closed-circuit television footage along with a man in a yellow T-shirt who police believe is linked to the attack.

Thai police are looking for two other male suspects, one dressed in red and another in white, captured on CCTV footage milling around the main suspect near the scene of the Bangkok blast. Photo: SCMP Pictures

A Bangkok Post report today quoting sources said that the investigations were centring on this theory even as police said they were searching for a man wearing a yellow T-shirt and carrying a backpack who set off the explosion in Erawan Shrine on Monday night killing 20 people and injuring 125.

The newspaper also said that police deployed more officers to the Chinese embassy in Bangkok after it made a request two weeks ago.

And in the most stunning revelation yet, the paper said: “Intelligence from the Special Branch also suggested there could be an attack on Chinese tourists after August 11.”

Thailand has a small community of Uygur migrants. Uygurs are a Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim ethnic group in China’s far west.

Suspected Uygurs are sequestered at a facility at the Thai border. Photo: Reuters

It is not known if Thai authorities shared the information with the Chinese authorities prior to Monday’s attack.

Yesterday China issued a travel advisory for its citizens, which urged them to stay alert and exercise caution while abroad.

Thus far, Thai leaders, including Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, have declined to be drawn into saying whether the attack was perpetrated by Uygur militants.

Last month, Thailand caused a storm of protest among the Uygur diaspora, sparking clashes in Turkey, when it forcibly returned 109 Uygurs back to China.

The Bangkok Post quoted police sources as saying the Uygur militants may have launched the attack in retaliation for the decision to deport them, a move that drew international condemnation. Thai Muslim and human rights groups accused the government of separating the Uygur families by sending the male migrants to China and the women and children to Turkey.

Thai investigators have not been able to establish the nationality of the man suspected of bombing the shrine, or whether he is still in the country, police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said today.

“I don’t suspect one person, I suspect many people,” he told a news conference on investigations into the blast that killed at least 20 people. “I am confident that there are Thais involved but I am not saying it is just Thais or that there are foreigners.”

He said it was not clear yet if a small second explosion at a port in Bangkok on Tuesday was linked to Monday evening’s deadly blast.

On Tuesday, Prayuth declined to say if the attack on Monday was perpetrated by Uygur militants, saying: “Whether this incident was motivated by domestic politics or an international issue, I don’t want to give you an opinion because it could mislead investigators and cause panic.”

A view of the fortifications at the Chinese embassy in Bangkok. Photo: Samuel Chan

He went on national television after a second blast went off at a pier in Sathorn yesterday, which police said was designed to inflict heavy casualties.

Police said they believed the perpetrator wanted to throw the bomb onto a busy walking platform leading to the pier but missed.

Thai police are hunting for what they described as a “Middle Eastern-looking man” caught on a closed circuit TV camera, whom they are “more than 50 per cent certain” was the bomber.

The Bangkok Post said they were searching for the suspect in Nana sois, a neighbourhood popular with Uygur migrants.

Thai police at work after an explosive device detonated at Sathorn Pier hours after the shrine blast. Photo: EPA

The young, slightly built man wearing a yellow T-shirt and black-framed glasses, was carrying a backpack. He wandered around the shrine, and was seen sitting down and leaving the backpack there and moment later, he was seen leaving the shrine and heading onto the street.

He arrived in a tuk-tuk and left on a motorcycle taxi.

Police said the device which went off at the Erawan shrine, and the one at Sathon pier, were pipe bombs containing ball bearings. They were assembled professionally.

With additional reporting by Reuters

 

[Susanoo]

Hunt for Bangkok bombers intensifies as Thailand issues images of trio of suspects

Two men captured in CCTV footage before Bangkok bombing added to manhunt alongside main suspect described as an 'unnamed foreigner'

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 19 August, 2015, 11:37pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 20 August, 2015, 12:23am

Samuel Chan in Bangkok and Agencies

A Chinese tourist lights incense to be laid at the Erawan Shrine (behind), as it reopens two days after the fatal explosion.Photos: EPA, Reuters

The hunt for the Bangkok bombers intensified last night after Thai authorities issued a formal arrest warrant for an "unnamed foreigner" and placed two other suspects on the wanted list.

Investigators of the blast - which killed 20 people including six Chinese nationals, two of them young women from Hong Kong, and injured more than 125 others - released a detailed sketch of a bespectacled, black-haired man in a yellow T-shirt yesterday afternoon.

A sketch and CCTV footage released by the Thai police show the main bombing suspect and two other men on the wanted list.

The image was apparently based on security camera footage taken from the site of the Erawan Shrine in the minutes before the bomb was detonated.

Last night, the police said two other people seen on CCTV footage at the shrine were now also considered suspects.

"The person in red and the person in white are also suspects," police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said, referring to two men seen in the grainy footage.

Officially, the authorities are keeping an open mind on the motive for the deadly attack and there has been no claim of responsibility. However, the Bangkok Post quoted sources as saying investigators were focusing on a "revenge motive" by Uygur militants after Thailand deported 109 Uygurs back to China last month.

The sources reportedly claimed Thai authorities had received intelligence Chinese tourists could be a target of attacks. Police had carried out investigations in an area of the Thai capital popular with Uygur migrants.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha appealed for the prime suspect - who has a one million baht (HK$217,700) bounty on his head - to surrender because "he might get killed to stop him from talking".

"If the person wants to be safe, he should turn himself in. Officials will find a legal way to provide him with safety. It's better than living in hiding. It would make his life miserable," Prayuth said, adding the man must have been hired to plant the bomb.

National police chief Somyot Poompanmoung believed the suspect did not work alone. "They work as a network [and] know how to escape. No one person can do this," he said.

The prime suspect might not be a foreigner and could have been wearing a disguise, he said.

But national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri later said the prime suspect was overheard speaking a foreign language other than English.

“Foreign language, not English also,” Prawut told reporters. He did not elaborate on how police knew which langauge the suspect spoke.

But police said earlier they had interviewed two motorcycle taxi riders near the shrine, one of whom gave a ride to the suspect.

Prawut also gave a description of the suspected ethnicity of the alleged bomber, using the Thai phrase “khaek khao” - a word often used to describe light skinned Muslims from South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.

"His skin is white and he has a high nose. Whether khaek khao or not I don’t know. But from the footage it looked like that,” he said.

Thailand has a small community of Uygur migrants. Uygurs are a Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim ethnic group in China's far west.

Yesterday, when the South China Morning Post visited the streets near the blast site in downtown Bangkok, the police presence was heavier than usual because of a bomb hoax.

Among the local shopkeepers and inhabitants, the Post found few willing to talk. "I've never come across any [Uygur], but it's hard to tell just by appearance," shoe shopkeeper Sue, a hijab-wearing Thai woman in her 30s, said. "Most people here are Arabs from the Middle East."

Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse

 

[Susanoo]

Bangkok blast puts Chinese Uygur diaspora back in the spotlight

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 20 August, 2015, 2:24am
UPDATED : Thursday, 20 August, 2015, 2:24am

Kristine Kwok
[email protected]

Suspected Uygur refugees claiming to be Turks are held at an immigration detention centre in Songkhla province, Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Photo: Reuters

They choose to flee China in search of the security of obscurity elsewhere, but they rarely escape international attention. Monday's blast in central Bangkok has again put the Chinese Uygur diaspora in the spotlight after Thai authorities said they could not rule out any group as possible suspects.

For decades, Turkic-speaking Uygurs have been fleeing their homes in China's restive Xinjiang autonomous region to escape persecution and violence.

But increasing suppression at home and tightening border control along previously popular routes have resulted in a growing number of the Chinese Muslims travelling via Southeast Asia to Turkey in recent years. Unlike earlier escapees, many of them were well-to-do and they tread the often dangerous expeditions with their family, researchers said.

In some cases, the Uygurs left China with fake passports and often had to endure long journeys by bus, boat and even by foot before arriving at a safe location in Southeast Asia, according to a researcher who has interviewed some recently.

Often equipped with electronic gadgets such as iPhones and iPads, many of the escapees were well-to-do people such as traders and small investors, said the researcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The escape can cost them dearly, the researcher said, with some paying up to US$15,000 per person to get to Malaysia.

"There was a family in which the husband is in his early 50s; I asked him why he would spend so much money and risk his family's life, he said it's intolerable [in Xinjiang]," the researcher said.

The escape route took the family of five three months, of which 20 days were spent on a boat and two months in the mountains. The youngest member of the family was 18 months old.

While Thailand caught international headlines by deporting about 100 Uygurs back to China last month, other countries in the region also face a similar diplomatic dilemma over how to handle the Uygurs.

Before a court in Jakarta last month sentenced three Uygur men to six years in prison on charges of attempting to join a local terrorist group, the Indonesian government had faced pressure from China to hand them back, according to a security analyst who refused to be named.

"But there was also resistance from within the Indonesian police that they know perfectly well that they [the Uygur men] are in serious trouble if they go back," the analyst said.

Chinese state media has claimed that Uygurs used Southeast Asian countries as a transit point in their journey to join the Islamic State in Syria. But the researchers and Uygur rights groups said the escapees often would settle in Turkey, where an extensive support network for Chinese Muslims has been in place for decades.

While Thai media reports, citing police sources, have suggested Chinese Uygurs could be linked to Monday's attack, most security experts interviewed by the Post said it was unlikely they were responsible for the bombing.

 

[Susanoo]

Trips cancelled, but tourism expected to rebound

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 20 August, 2015, 2:34am
UPDATED : Thursday, 20 August, 2015, 2:34am

Samuel Chan in Bangkok, Mandy Zuo and Naomi Ng

Many mainlanders have called off travel plans to Thailand following the Bangkok temple bombing. Photo: Reuters

Many mainlanders have called off travel plans to Thailand following the Bangkok temple bombing, tour agencies say.

Others who booked discounted tickets are waiting to see if they will face any financial loss should they cancel their trips.

The China National Tourism Administration on Tuesday issued a travel advisory warning Chinese citizens already in Thailand or planning to travel there to be cautious and to rework their itineraries.

Bangkok's Erawan Shrine - normally bustling with foreign visitors - was eerily quiet an hour after it reopened yesterday.

"I've heard the attack was targeted at Chinese tourists, but I'm not too worried," said Yang Yong from Yunnan province, who was with his family of six. "I expect the Thai government would have stepped up security … so I suppose it's safe now."

On the mainland, tour agencies reported many cancellations. Anny Lou, an assistant manager at Shanghai's Jin Jiang Travel, said about half of her Thailand tour clients had cancelled their trips.

"The cancelled orders so far even include those departing in September, although we tried to explain to them that this was just one incident," Lou said. "What worries us most now is that this might impact the National Day golden week holiday."

Industry insiders expect the impact from the bombing to be short term, giving the examples of Malaysia and South Korea, whose tourism sectors were dealt heavy blows because of accidents or disease but recovered quickly.

Shi Kaifeng, a spokesman for tour agency Ctrip, said while some had called off their trips, most clients were still mulling of whether to do so as they had bought discounted flight tickets that did not allow for refunds. "I believe that as a traditionally popular destination, tourism to Thailand will recover soon," Shi said.

Malaysia, which was hit last year by the disappearance of its Malaysia Airlines flight 370, had since returned to the list of mainlanders' top 10 tourist destinations, Shi said. South Korea, which was hit by an outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome that claimed 36 lives a few months ago, has also seen its tourist numbers rebound.

Wei Xiaoan, who heads the World Tourism Cities Federation expert committee, said that unlike a warning against travelling to Nepal during an earthquake in April, the tourism authorities' travel alert for Thailand was a low-grade one. The impact on tourism in Thailand would be modest, he said.

Meanwhile, relatives of Shanghai blast victim Shao Qing were making arrangements to fly to Bangkok after receiving notification of Shao's death.

Shao travelled to Bangkok with her husband, Zhang Yu, and daughter, Zhang Yi Han, on Sunday. Her husband and daughter were being treated in hospital and their injuries were not life-threatening, her cousin Jessi Shao said.

As dusk fell in the Thai capital yesterday, locals streamed to the shrine to lay flowers for those killed in the bombing.

Several police officers and a handful of soldiers patrolled the area around the temple as workers repaired a pavilion damaged by the blast.

"I'm here to show that we're not afraid," said American tourist Frank Hull. "If the Chinese people would like to worship a Hindu god, they have every right to do so."