2015 Bangkok bombing | |
---|---|
Location | Ratchaprasong intersection, Bangkok, Thailand |
Date | 17 August 2015 18:55 ICT (UTC+07:00) |
Attack type
|
Mass murder, bombing |
Weapon | TNT |
Deaths | 20 |
Non-fatal injuries
|
125 |
Victims | Thai nationals, foreign tourists |
Suspected perpetrators
|
Adem Karadag and Grey Wolves |
Coordinates: 13°44′40″N 100°32′26″E / 13.74444°N 100.54056°E
On 17 August 2015, a bombing took place inside the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, Thailand, killing 20 people and injuring 125. Thai police were reported to have arrested two suspects, the second of whom confessed to having been the bomber. He later retracted his confession.
Prior to this bombing incident, there were two other bombings in Thailand in the same year. In February 2015, two bombs exploded on the Siam BTS Station outside the nearby Siam Paragon shopping mall, injuring three people. The attack was believed to have been politically motivated. In April 2015, a car bomb exploded in Ko Samui, injuring seven.
On 17 August 2015, at 18:55 ICT (11:55 UTC), a bomb exploded inside the grounds of the Erawan Shrine, near the busy Ratchaprasong Intersection in Bangkok's city centre. The Royal Thai Police said that 3 kilograms (6.6 lb) of TNT had been stuffed in a pipe and left under a bench near the outer rim of the grounds surrounding the shrine, and that an electronic circuit suspected to have been used in the attack was found 30 metres (98 ft) from the scene. Surveillance footage showed a suspect leaving a backpack at the scene shortly before the explosion.