A “woman wearing a black shirt” is being sought by police in connection with the deadly bombing at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine, according to a senior police spokesman.
“I would urge her to come forward to provide information to police,” Lieutenant-General Prawut Thavornsiri is said to have told reporters without elaborating, as police said on Thursday that they had questioned and freed one man who handed himself in after being seen on CCTV at the shrine moments before the blast.
However, the prime suspect remains at large.
A Thai man wanted for questioning after he was seen on security camera footage “met police and was released”, Lt-Gen Prawut told reporters, adding a second man from China in the same shot had already left the country – but neither were “likely involved”.
Earlier, the BBC reported that both men had handed themselves in to the police.
The main suspect, believed to be a foreigner in a yellow shirt seen depositing a backpack at the scene was still at large, he added.
The two men – the Thai in a red shirt, and the Chinese in white – were initially believed to be possible accomplices of the suspected bomber.
They were seen standing in front of the lead suspect as he took a backpack off and placed it under a bench. They then left the crowded shrine in central Bangkok.
Moments later, the bomb exploded killing at least 20 people, mainly foreigners, wounding scores more and sparking a manhunt for the bomber.
“The Thai man is from Chiang Mai,” Prawut said, explaining he had taken the Chinese man to the Erawan shrine on behalf of a mutual friend.
The Chinese man returned home a day after the bomb.
Thai authorities have given conflicting and contradictory snippets of information on their quest for the bomber.
But they say they are still confident a bespectacled man in the yellow shirt, described in his arrest warrant as a foreigner is the prime suspect.
Story: AFP
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