News Digest

Mastermind of Bangkok Erawan Shrine attack named as Chinese national

Thai security forces have named the mastermind of the Bangkok Erawan Shrine bombing as Abudureheman Abudusataer, a Chinese national from the Xinjiang region. He was identified as police paraded Yusufu Mierili, one of the two suspects currently in custody, at the city’s train station for a public re-enactment of the alleged handover. They claim Yusufu has confessed confessed to handing a backpack filled with explosives to another man - known as “yellow shirt” - who then left it at the blast site and is still on the run. Mystery still surrounds the motive of the group accused of being responsible for the August 17 bombing that left 20 people dead in the heart of Bangkok, also rocking Thailand’s key tourist industry.

This place is where he met with the yellow shirt man to exchange a backpack.

Prawut Thavornsiri, Thai police spokesman, at Bangkok railway station

Yusufu, 25, who was holding a Chinese passport when he was caught, has admitted to playing a central role in the operation, according to police. “Yusufu said the backpack that he carried was heavy and it was a bomb,” said police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri. Yusufu allegedly told detectives that Abudusataer, 27, had meetings with him and other members of the network behind the bombing to organise the attack, The Bangkok Post reported, adding that police believe the suspect left Thailand the day before the blast. Authorities have not confirmed Yusufu’s nationality, saying only he is a foreigner, but local media reported he also held a Chinese passport. A second man identified as Adem Karadag was caught before Yusufu in a flat in a Bangkok suburb with bomb-making paraphernalia and dozens of fake Turkish passports.