Breaking News : Bomb Kills up to 27 in Bangkok

hollydolly

hollydolly

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...and dozens more injured!!!

At least 27 are dead and dozens more have been injured after a bomb on a motorbike exploded just outside a Hindu shrine in Bangkok today.
The explosion took place in the popular Ratchaprasong district in the heart of the Thai capital at around 7pm, in an area packed with tourists.
Four foreigners are believed to be among the dead after an attack the Thai government says was designed to damage the country's vital tourist industry.
'It was a TNT bomb... the people who did it targeted foreigners and to damage tourism and the economy,' a government spokesman said.
Many victims were probably visiting the Erawan Shrine or several shopping centres in the area when the attack took place. Security video showed a powerful flash as the bomb exploded.
 

Watching this on the news. Horrific! It looks like Chinese tourists were the main target - near a shrine that is always mobbed with tourists.
 

WhatInThe said:
I saw this I first thought radicals because the only thing I recall there have been several police "crackdowns" over the years but no one has claimed responsibility yet. ISIS? Gutless criminals don't even want to take responsibility for their own deeds? So is this for a cause or selfish criminal act?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/17/world/asia/thailand-protests/index.html

Related?

Speedy recovery to those injured/affected by the blast.
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An article on BBC said they doubt it was ISIS. Thailand is always have coups, and they do have violence in Bangkok, but not on the same scale as this bomb.

Thais are the most peaceful people I've ever met, so this is such a contradiction to me. Thailand is nearly 100% Buddhist and it's taboo to show anger. There was a coup going on while we were there last winter on one of the islands. But the only reason we knew is through the tv news. Didn't affect our island.
 
Very sad, for the victims and their families. Political tension (Huffington Post)


POLITICAL TENSION

At the scene lay burnt out motorcycles, with rubble from the shrine's wall and pools of blood on the street.
Earlier, authorities had ordered onlookers back, saying they were checking for a second bomb but police later said no other explosive devices were found.

Authorities stepped up security checks at some major city intersections and in tourist areas. The city's elevated railway, which passes over the scene, was operating normally.
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.

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

The army has ruled Thailand since May 2014, when it ousted an elected government after months of at times violent anti-government protests.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it was too soon to tell if a blast was a terrorist attack. Spokesman John Kirby said authorities in Thailand were investigating and had not requested U.S. help so far.

He said U.S. officials were working with Thai authorities to determine if any U.S. citizens were affected by the blast.

The shrine intersection was the site of months of anti-government protests in 2010 by supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Dozens were killed in a military crackdown and a shopping center was set ablaze. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Andrew R.C. Marshall; Additional reporting by Khettiya Jittapong, Martin Petty, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Arshad Mohammed and David Brunnstrom; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Ken Wills)
 
One thing that always bugs me is that the news always says they don't know if it's terrorists. Of COURSE it is terrorists -- people who do suicide bombing and so on are terrorists. The only question is who are they working for, not whether they are terrorists or not. Domestic terrorism is still terrorism. Yeesh!
 
One of the things I first noticed while viewing the pics of this horror, were the shocky looks on some of the faces of first responders. Along with the more obvious casualties, critical incident trauma, and probable ensuing PTSD will unfortunately be added to the mix.
 
Bangkok is one place I would never visit,it surprises me so many do.The corruption is so widespread I doubt if you could trust anyone, especially in higher places.
 
Fern said:
Bangkok is one place I would never visit,it surprises me so many do.The corruption is so widespread I doubt if you could trust anyone, especially in higher places.
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I have spent a few days in Bangkok to see the temples. But we go to Thailand to stay on one of the islands. We'll be spending 3 months this winter. We love it. And we use cash only, no cc.

Corruption wouldn't stop me visiting a country. Most countries in Africa are corrupt. Didn't stop us. Doesn't mean we approve of corruption.
 
Ameriscot said:
I have spent a few days in Bangkok to see the temples. But we go to Thailand to stay on one of the islands. We'll be spending 3 months this winter. We love it. And we use cash only, no cc.

Corruption wouldn't stop me visiting a country. Most countries in Africa are corrupt. Didn't stop us. Doesn't mean we approve of corruption.
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I agree Annie on my recent trip to Indonesia, a local hotel owner I talked to said corruption there was on an industrial scale, but as a traveller it doesn't impinge on you. Lets face it most countries including mine are pretty corrupt and who really knows to what extent, but most of us live our lives without it affecting us directly, just less money in our pockets and getting involved in unnecessary wars. :(
 
merlin said:
I agree Annie on my recent trip to Indonesia, a local hotel owner I talked to said corruption there was on an industrial scale, but as a traveller it doesn't impinge on you. Lets face it most countries including mine are pretty corrupt and who really knows to what extent, but most of us live our lives without it affecting us directly, just less money in our pockets and getting involved in unnecessary wars. :(
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Corruption is the reason for all the problems in African countries. When we lived in Uganda we saw corruption first hand. We got stopped for speeding and were asked for money so we wouldn't have the inconvenience of having to come back and go to court. How thoughtful. :rolleyes: And most of the people we knew who drove had 'bought' their driver's licences. We knew two people who got their master's degrees by sticking money in with their final thesis. Our Ugandan 'daughter' wanted to go to law school but we didn't realize until too late that we needed to bribe someone to get her accepted (even though she had excellent test scores). So she got a business degree instead. Ugandans just go along with it because that's just the way it is. You have to live with it.
 
This made me sick, my daughter in law is native Thai. She and my son used to spend summers visiting her family. From what I understand they have some of the most amazing beaches and shrines in the world. It's sad that terrorism has gone there as well.
 
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