Thai police identify Bilal Mohammed as suspect in yellow shirt

Thai police officially announced the identities of two men believed to be responsible for the two separate bomb attacks in Bangkok last month.

The yellow shirt man who was responsible for the deadly attack near the Erawan shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection in central Bangkok on Aug 17 was identified as Bilal Mohammed, while the blue shirt bomber at the Sathorn pier a day later has been identified as Zubair.

Bilal, previously known as Adem Karadag, was arrested on Aug 29 at Poonanan Apartment in Nong Chok district, Bangkok, after police traced his phone calls, said Thai police chief Police general Somyot Pumpanmuang, at a press conference at the Royal Thai Police headquarters here on Monday.

Bilal was initially arrested for possession of bomb-making materials and a stack of empty fake Turkish passports.

The arrest of Bilal led to the arrest of a second key suspect in the case, Yusufu Mieraili, a Muslim from Xinjiang, China.

Yusufu was captured in the Thai-Cambodia border areas in Aranyapratet district, Sakaew province, on Sept 1 when he attempted to escape to Cambodia.

However, Zubair, the blue shirt bomber responsible for the bomb attack at the Sathorn pier in Bangkok, is among the 15 suspects wanted by the authorities but yet to be arrested, said Somyot, adding that two of the suspects are Thai nationals.

The bomb attack near Erawan shrine killed 20 people, including five Malaysians and left 130 other people injured.

Meanwhile, Thai deputy police chief Police General Chakthip Chaijinda said Bilal did not flee from Thailand after the bomb attack as he was waiting for the money from the mastermind of the attack.