firestar

Looking at the Erawan footage the bomber is very calm, choosing the right time, detonating remotely... here we have an idiot throwing a bomb in a river, makes loud noise but water will ensure minimal damage, runs away.

Almost feels like someone from either side wants to piggy back off the first bombing. Yellows will say evil red shirts and reds will say there being framed for political gain after the first bomber looks to be foreigner.

Broad day light, runs away.... doesn't seem at all professional like the first one.

First the Red Shirts would not admit it. But they would tell the military did it, or they tell under Thaksin everything was peaceful and good economic...look now, economic bad, dangerous, no tourists.

Or as you tell an angry fanatic individual or a small militant group without the agreement of the leader in Dubai.

The economy was already bad, now even if it gets worse the junta has an excuse for it being bad, why would the red shirts want to give the junta a ready made excuse?

Whatever comes out you'll always contort, bend and try to fit it in your ultra-bias world view .... it's starting to border on the pathological.

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if "they" wanted highest damage they would indeed do the job in KSR. many victims, most of them young foreign tourists. that would have major impact.

that shrine is popular but not a very crowdy place compared to other places in BKK.

maybe just a warning this time... let's wait and see what the investigation comes up with.

At this time of day it's VERY crowded compared to most other places. It's just across from central world, tons of office workers stopping to pray on their way to the BTS and foreign tourists, it's packed around 7pm. It's also a religious landmark, if the target is to scare not only tourist but locals too you can hardly find a place more central and significant.

I think authorities and media need to be careful with 'suspects' rather than 'someone who was there' they'd like to speak with

It's like that Boston bombing where they'd identified a couple of guys with backpacks and everyone on Twitter found out who they were ... turned out it was nothing to do with them and I think they even got a payout from the city for all the grief they got

I called him suspect, police might have called him "person of interest" or some other terminology.

Picture released look quite bad for him, he's wearing a backpack in the first picture, not in the second, looks like he's hiding tattoos on his forearms, and there's pictures of him inside the shrine with the backpack....

This photo was taken by a Thai walking over the pedestrian walkway a few minutes before the blast and lo and behold..there's the yellow shirted guy with backpack. He then apparently left the backpack, made a call and left quickly

Walks in with a backpack, leaves without it, hiding his tattoos... don't know where he's from but it sure looks like police are on the right track.

Police released a photo of the suspect.

Too early to speculate but according to a Thai expert on BBC tonight , since the bomb was placed at the shrine it was not primarily targeting tourists , but local Thais. So it could very well be a political motive.

but since it was inside the shrine, a religious symbol, it could very well have been religious. see how that works? easy to make short cuts.

It's here and now, and people are already speculating... Who did this is certainly appropriate in this thread.... And I don't, at this point, believe it's connected to southern insurgents or international terrorism (IS likely doesn't think much about Thailand as the Kurds kick their asses)....

At this point it's not even speculation.. only a reflection of your particular bias.

Police ruling out southern insurgents already? Hmm....

The problem with the investigation is that if the truth is too damaging to the country, like southern Malays-Thais bringing terrorism further north, I really don't see it coming out. better to put out the fire behind closed doors.

The BBC is saying there are reports 3kg of TNT had been stuffed in a pipe inside the shrine and that an electronic circuit suspected to have been used in the attack was found 30 meters away from the blast.

From the BBC : The Bangkok Post quoted police as saying that 3kg of TNT had been stuffed in a pipe inside the shrine and that an electronic circuit suspected to have been used in the attack was found 30 metres from the scene.

ISOC says there are three possible motives of bomb blast

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Internal Security Operation Command announced that the there were three possible reasons for the blast: political conflict, state official reshuffle, and international terrorism.

It ruled out insurgents from the deep South.

-- The Nation 2015-08-17

They will probably have the case solved by tomorrow night seeing as how they have such great interlectual prowess.

I for one find that amazing.

Thailand.

Unbelievable. No time to have made any significant investigation. already spinning the story.

I just looked at this in the Swedish press no updates for about 1 hour and not a single quote from any Thai news outlet, they quote BBC, CNN and AFP and not a single quote from Bangkok Post, The Nation and so on from the English speaking Thai news agencies.

Bangkokpost won't know much more than the big agencies The Nation will wait to write what the junta tells it to write...

TNN has footage but it's very graphic, not something you would show in the foreign press.

Sure these crazy people with their ideas. Firestar only you know the truth - and me.

Everyone knows most people go around armed with bombs, and that using them to kill people indiscriminately is common in Thailand.

For example, you don't like the food in a restaurant, plant a bomb, bad service in a government office, charge the detonator- 'fire-in-the-hole'. Why bother with a gun when a bomb is so much more effective. Boyfriend cheating- take down the whole condo.

'Political'?? only some kind of conspiracy nut would suggest this is political, I mean, name one time when a bomb has been used for political ends in Thailand?

You missed the point entirely.

I'm not saying it's not political. I'm saying you don't know. And neither do I.

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Good job! They should extend the alcohol-free area to 1 Km from educational institutions. Enforcement is what's needed.

Riiiiight... and let's force those girls to cover up, look at those short dresses.... stop dreaming of Thaighanistan... just because you don't have fun anymore nobody else should ?

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I think many people, based on history, still didn't think it was serious.

Phone termination is a big problem for most people and consider the economic cost to the nation of so many people having their lives disrupted this way all at the same time.

Exactly. I forgot all about it....

Most people in Thailand dont have fixed lines, how about if they have an emergency and need to call a relative? For those who haven't registered there should be a vocal message or something for a few weeks warning them before it is disconnected.

It's also because the middle class is so much bigger now. It use to be tiny and those girls wanted to take the step up. Now almost everybody goes to uni. Its the same girls marrying the farangs only they go to uni before doing so.

Making rules as you go along and passing them into law the following week is usually not a good idea....

The closest school is Srinakharinwirot University Prasarnmit Demonstration School (Secondary) ... about 400 metres away ... and it would be classed as a "lower school" anyway. Soi Cowboy is in the clear.

Sorry to stick a pin in your conspiracy balloon.

Not according to the map Thaivisa map showed. Isn't the SPIP international school less than 300m?.

As ever, posters completely miss the point and take the pronouncement and law at face value.

This is just yet another very strict law on the statute books that will be patchily enforced at best.

The goal is to give those in power the tools to direct profits from the sale of alcohol to their faction whilst appeasing some camps within their own supporters and simultaneously appearing both moral and conservative.

I really don't know why I bother contributing to this forum any more. So many posters just projecting their farangland experiences onto a very, very differently run country.

You are saying corruption will make it right....

Nobody is dumb enough to think this law will be strictly enforced, but as it will be on a case by case basis it's just another excuse for anyone in a brown or green uniform to extort business.

Enforced or not it is an utterly ridiculous use of article 44.

I also find it ironic that RCA is exempt from this ban, considering that place is one of the biggest magnets for schoolkids to drink in the whole of Bangkok!!!!!!

Correct. They will also for sure not close venues on Thonglor or Ratchada, it will be one law for some another one for others. Exactly what breeds corruptions and a sense of injustice.

What is happening in Thailand? Words are being turned into actions.

As much as I feel this is the wrong approach and that education to change attitudes towards drinking is the way to go this is certainly impressive.

Police officers transferred to inactive posts and bars actually being closed down.

Give it 6 months and we will see if the drive towards this policy continues.

Like like Hua Hin restaurants or Phuket taxi mafia where the publicity stunts lasted two weeks and it's back to business as usual?

Surely at this point you are just trolling..... I live on Thonglor there is two international schools and smaller Thai schools. So they are going to close seenspace, wine republic, muse, funky villa? How about the all the japanese restaurants? Or is it one law for some and another for others (the definition of injustice)

This law is badly thought out and utterly ridiculous. All it will achieve is empower even more (as if it was needed) brown and green uniforms.

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You have read too many books by the look of it, Maybe Friday the thirteenth will show it's face after the army have tried to deal with the dung left in anyones care.

When asked why he needed to increase the military budget, Gen Prayuth dismissed it saying "how will we scare our enemies if we don't buy weapons?"

Why is this relevant? Because it isn't the Government or the police that made Thaksin's fortune, it's the military when they awarded him an exclusive GSM license. It is the culture of patronage and lack of transparency within the military that made Thaksin who he is in the first place.

Thaksin himself is a byproduct of the military. If you want to clear the dung you really think putting in charge those who keep producing it, and absolutely don't want to change their ways, is the way to go?

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Now that is out of the way, how about trial of Suthep for laundry list of major felonies against the government?

How about extraditing Thaksin so he can face the 15 outstanding court cases waiting his return?

His host country is the one who can extradite him. So what does his extradition have to do with the Thai Justice system?