Surveillance video offers possible clue in deadly Bangkok bombing

BANGKOK -- New surveillance video has surfaced offering a possible clue to the bombing in central Bangkok that killed 20 people, Thai authorities said Saturday.

Col. Winthai Suvaree, a spokesman for Thailand's ruling junta, also said closed circuit television was used to learn the transportation route the suspected bomber took to and from the site of Monday evening's rush-hour attack. He said that a police sketch of the suspect had been distributed to border posts.

Surveillance video leaked to Thai media shows a man in a blue shirt placing a bag on a riverside walkway, then kicking it into the water on Monday night shortly after the explosion several kilometres (miles) away at the Erawan Shrine. About 18 hours later, at 1 p.m. Tuesday, an explosion took place at the same spot near a busy pier, causing no casualties.

Police spokesman Prawuth Thawornsiri said Saturday that police were seeking the man for questioning, even though it remains unclear whether his actions had anything to do with either explosion. Asked if the man was a suspect, he said he was "more like a witness."

"The thing he kicked in the water might just be garbage. We don't know yet," he said. Asked if the man in the video was linked to the bombing at the Erawan Shrine, he said police had not yet drawn that conclusion and there was no clear relationship.

Much of the police investigation, and the media frenzy surrounding it, has been fueled by closed circuit television footage, often too burry to distinctly identify its subjects.

The one suspect for whom an arrest warrant has been issued was seen leaving a backpack behind at the spot where the bomb went off at the shrine minutes after he departed. Two men who stood nearby him looked suspiciously like confederates, but made themselves known to police who have more of less cleared them of any reposbibility. A woman in a black shirt also seen standing nearby is being sought.

Police have released a sketch of the suspect -- depicting him with eyeglasses and bushy, black hair -- and offered a reward that on Friday was raised to 3 million baht ($85,000). On a police arrest warrant he is described as a "foreign man," although a military spokesman said a connection to international terrorism seemed unlikely.

After initially being criticized for sending confusing messages, authorities have appeared more guarded in their statements. Military spokesman Col. Winthai said on television Friday that the police were making "much progress," but that he could not disclose any details. On Saturday, he said information would be made public once it was no longer needed to be kept secret as part of the investigation.