By Max Constant
BANGKOK
Thai police requested Interpol assistance Thursday in identifying the main suspect in a fatal bombing in central Bangkok, as the investigation appeared to be surrounded by confusion while the military government adopted a political approach to the crisis.
Thai police officially asked for help to identify a young man whose composite sketch was publicized Wednesday after he was caught on security cameras a few minutes before Monday’s blast, Khaosod online reported.
The request came a day after Thai junta leader-cum-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha strongly rejected an offer of assistance by U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
"Do you want foreign countries to intervene in every issue? It is a breach of sovereignty," he angrily quipped after local reporters inquired about the British offer. "There is no need to get outsiders involved."
Three days after the attack -- the worst ever to hit Bangkok, leaving 20 people dead and 125 injured -- the investigation has brought few substantial leads and appeared to become more muddled.
On Wednesday, a court delivered an arrest warrant "for a Foreigner" -- the dark-haired suspect caught on security cameras wearing a yellow T-shirt and glasses -- on bombing and murder charges.
Senior police officers, however, also said the man could be a Thai disguised to pass as a foreigner.
Adding to the confusion, junta spokesman Colonel Winthai Suwaree affirmed in a statement broadcast on TV Thursday that the bomb attack was "unlikely to be linked to international terrorism."
He underlined that it could instead be the work of "organized crime" -- without giving any facts to substantiate the comment.
On Thursday, Police Chief General Somyot Pumpanmuang said that no less than 10 people were involved in the attack.
"It is a network, no less than 10 people. I believe they have spent months planning and scouting routes before the attack," he told Khaosod. "I am confident that Thai people are involved, because, based on our investigation, I believe the perpetrators knew the escape routes very well."
Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri had however told reporters at a news conference the previous day that only two other suspects had been spotted by security cameras.
"The red shirt man and the white shirt man stood in an angle that looks like giving cover to the yellow man as he puts down his backpack," he said. "After that the red shirt man and the white shirt man left the crime scene."
A factor behind the confusion could be the Thai police’s lack of experience in dealing with attacks as devastating as the bombing at the center of the capital.
For instance, it took police two hours to seal off the scene of the explosion -- before which journalists, rescuers and bystanders had entered the site, possibly altering crucial evidence.
Meanwhile, some analysts have contended that the junta is also taking a political approach of the crisis that they say might partly explain the apparent disorder in the investigation.
Cartoons showing a uniformed soldier helping an injured civilian and saying "Be strong Thailand" have been circulating widely across social networks.
Chan-ocha called on Thais to show "solidarity and unity in the face of evil" during a televised statement Tuesday.
"Despite all the [budget] increases and new powers, the junta’s obsession with neutralizing their domestic political rivals has blinded them to other serious threats to national security," terrorism expert Zachary Abuza wrote on the New Mandala website. "Their biases and aversion to facts give pause to the hope that the investigation will be conducted honestly and transparently."
In another column published by Nikkei Asia Review, political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak wrote, "Thai authorities must ensure a credible and transparent process of locating, interrogating and prosecuting suspects to come up with explanations that those at home and abroad can buy."
