Bangkok's Erawan Shrine bomb: One suspect 'is Chinese'
Yusufu Mieraili re-enacted events leading up to the
bomb blast with police near the Erawan shrine on Wednesday
One of the alleged
accomplices to the key suspect wanted over the Erawan Shrine bombing in
the Thai capital Bangkok last month is Chinese, officials from both
countries say.
They say that Yusufu Mieraili was born in Xinjiang, home to China's Muslim Uighur minority.
A Chinese official told the Global Times that the bombing may have been the work of separatists in Xinjiang.
No-one has laid claim to the attack, which killed 20 people.
Thai police say Mr Mieraili is part of a group responsible for the blast.
The
Global Times reported a Chinese official as saying that he belonged to
the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a small Islamist separatist group
said to be active in Xinjiang province in western China.
The Bangkok Post reported that he told investigators that his parents still live in the region.
The
main suspect - a man wearing a yellow t-shirt who left a rucksack at
the shrine moments before the 17 August blast - is still believed to be
on the run.
Police say that a young man seen on CCTV footage
leaving a backpack near the shrine is likely still to be on the run
Another foreign man named by the authorities as Adem Karadag (centre) is also being questioned by police
Mr Mieraili was taken to the scene of the explosion on Wednesday morning for a crime scene re-enactment.
Wearing
a bulletproof vest and with his hands bound, he was escorted by police
to the elevated pedestrian skywalk above the shrine.
Mr Mieraili
has confessed to handing a backpack to the suspected bomber at Bangkok's
main railway station shortly before the blast, Thai police say.
China
is closely watching the investigation in Bangkok, correspondents say,
as speculation mounts that sympathisers of the country's Uighur
community could be the chief suspects.
The bomb on 17 August left 20 people dead and more than 120 injured
China has long faced criticism for the perceived
harsh restrictions it places on religion and culture in Xinjiang, where
the majority of Uighurs live.
Thailand recently found itself in the spotlight following its forced repatriation of more than 100 Uighurs to China.
Any
confirmation that Mr Mieraili is Chinese would throw the spotlight on
an ethnic conflict that China has long argued poses an international
threat, t
he BBC's Jon Sudworth in Beijing recently reported.
Thai
police arrested Mr Mieraili, 25, at the beginning of this month in Sa
Kaeo province on the border with Cambodia. He was holding a Chinese
passport but police warned at the time that it could be fake.
Earlier another suspect, Adem Karadag was arrested in a raid on a flat on the eastern outskirts of Bangkok.
Title : Bangkok's Erawan Shrine bomb: One suspect 'is Chinese'
Description : Bangkok's Erawan Shrine bomb: One suspect 'is Chinese' ...
