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22 people, including 5 Chinese, killed in Bangkok explosion

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An injured person is seen at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, on Aug. 17, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

As of 3 p.m. local time on Tuesday, five Chinese nationals, including three from the mainland and two from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, had been confirmed dead in a Bangkok explosion Monday night, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand said Tuesday.

Another 24 Chinese, including 19 from Chinese mainland, two from Hong Kong and three from China's Taiwan are under treatment in hospital, the embassy said, adding more than 10 others, who sustained minor injuries, have been discharged from hospitals.

There is one Chinese who remains missing, according to the embassy.

The explosion, which rocked Erawan Shrine at Ratchaprasong intersection, a popular tourist destination in downtown Bangkok, at about 7 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Monday, has left a total of 20 people dead and more than 100 others injured.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which occurred just outside the Erawan shrine at a major intersection.

A China Central Television reporter quoted police in Bangkok as saying that TNT was used in the bomb, and that a bomb disposal unit had dismantled two suspected explosive devices.

"The perpetrators intended to destroy the economy and tourism because the incident occurred in the heart of the tourism district," Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said.

The Erawan shrine, on a busy corner in the Thai capital near top hotels, shopping centres, offices and a hospital, is a major attraction, especially for visitors from East Asia, including China. Many ordinary Thais also worship there.

"I had just paid tribute to the Buddha. I was washing my hands, and suddenly I heard a huge explosion, and when I turned, four people were all lying on the ground," Gu Xinlun, a Chinese tourist who arrived in Bangkok on Monday, told China Daily.

He said the blast killed one of his friends.

"It was like a meat market," said Marko Cunningham, a New Zealand paramedic working with a Bangkok ambulance service, who said the blast had left a two-metre-wide (6-foot-) crater.

"There were bodies everywhere. Some were shredded. There were legs where heads were supposed to be. It was horrific," Cunningham said, adding that people several hundred metres away had been injured.

Political tension

At the scene, authorities ordered onlookers back, saying they were checking for a second bomb.

"We are now looking for another two to three bombs, as we have found one suspicious object," national police chief Prawut Thawornsiri told Reuters.

"There could be another explosion, so we have blocked off the crime scene and are asking bystanders to move back."

Authorities stepped up security checks at some major city intersections and in tourist areas.

While initial suspicion might fall on Muslim separatists in the south, Thailand has been riven for a decade by an intense and sometimes violent struggle for power between political factions in Bangkok.

Occasional small blasts have been blamed on one side or the other. Two pipe bombs exploded outside a luxury shopping mall in the same area in February, but caused little damage.

Police said that attack was aimed at raising tension when the city was under martial law.

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