News Digest

Bombers strike at Bangkok shrine leaving at least 16 dead, including 4 tourists

At least 16 people have been killed - including four tourists - after a bomb blast in central Bangkok. At least 80 people, most of them tourists, were hurt when the blast ripped through the area at about 7pm local time. It was thought initially a motorcyclist carried the bomb and exploded it outside the Erawan religious shrine in the downtown Chidlom district of the Thai capital. However, it is now being reported the bomb was left under a bench outside. A second bomb inside the shrine has been discovered and defused, while there are reports of a third device on a train that teams are working to neutralise.

All I can say now is there has been an explosion in central Bangkok involving a motorcycle bomb.

Deputy national police chief Aek Angsananond

CCTV footage shows a huge orange fireball and people fleeing down the street away from the site of the explosion. The shrine - which is popular with tourists - sits at the Rajprasong intersection which has been the centre of many political demonstrations in recent years. Bangkok resident Lucinda-Jane Chastain told Sky News: “The whole building shook. We all ran to the windows. It was quite hard to see what was happening but we could see debris in the street. All we can see is a horrible mess on the road. This is at the very heart of Bangkok.”