The bomb attack that killed 20
people at Bangkok's Erawan shrine on Monday was carried out by a
"network", Thailand's chief of police has said.
Investigators are
trying to trace the main suspect, a man in a yellow t-shirt who was
filmed by security cameras leaving a backpack at the shrine.
The Hindu shrine, popular with tourists and Buddhists, reopened on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has described the incident as the worst-ever attack on Thailand.
Thai
police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told the Associated Press news agency
on Wednesday that the shrine attack was the work of more than one
person.
"He didn't do it alone for sure," he said, referring to
the main suspect. "It's a network," he added, without giving further
information.
The
shrine reopened at about 08:00 local time (01:00 GMT), with a handful
of people arriving to place flowers or light incense in front of the
slightly damaged statue of the Hindu god Brahma.
A BBC reporter at
the scene says there appears to be low security in place, with the
public free to walk in unchecked. She says the last human remains were
only cleared from the site earlier on Wednesday.
The statue of the Hindu god Brahma was slightly damaged in Monday's attack
Media captionThe BBC's Stephen Evans says the authorities want to "send a signal" by reopening the shrine
Most
of the victims of Monday's attack were Thai, but nationals from China,
Hong Kong, the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were among the
foreigners killed.
No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.
In
a separate attack on Tuesday, an explosive device was thrown at a pier
in Bangkok. No-one was hurt, but the authorities have not ruled out a
link between the incidents.
Maj Gen Weerachoon Sukhontapatipak, a
spokesman in the military government, earlier told the BBC that the
authorities were "quite close" to identifying the suspect caught on CCTV
at the shrine.
Media captionThe suspect, in yellow, deposits a backpack on a bench before walking off
The
man is seen carefully removing his backpack inside the shrine - at the
spot the bomb went off - then getting up without it and immediately
leaving.
Maj Gen Sukhontapatipak said no motive was being ruled
out, but that the bomber did not appear to be Thai and the character of
the bombing was "quite different" from previous bombings by Islamist
separatists in southern Thailand.
Speaking in a television address
on Tuesday evening, Mr Prayuth said the attack showed that Thailand
"still has a person or a group of people with hostility to the nation
operating actively".
"They may be doing it for a political motive
or to undermine the economy or tourism or for other reasons," he said,
according to the Bangkok Post.
He also warned against speculation on possible perpetrators, saying it could cause panic or mislead the investigation.
Bangkok explosion
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