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Thailand Blames Uighur Militants in Bombing at Bangkok Shrine Thailand Blames Uighur Militants for Bombing at Bangkok Shrine
(about 9 hours later)
BANGKOK — Thailand’s national police chief on Tuesday blamed Uighur militants, members of an aggrieved minority in western China, for a deadly bombing in Bangkok last month. BANGKOK — Nearly a month after the deadliest bombing in recent Thai history, Thailand’s national police chief made his most explicit comments on Tuesday about who carried out the attack and why.
After nearly a month of investigations into the bombing, which killed 20 people, the Thai authorities have arrested two suspects and issued arrest warrants for a dozen more people. But the comments on Tuesday, made at a daily briefing, were the first time that investigators were explicit about whom they believe perpetrated the attack and why. The perpetrators, he said, were linked to Uighur militants, radical members of an aggrieved ethnic minority in western China, who struck to avenge Thailand’s forced repatriation of Uighur refugees to China and Thailand’s dismantling of a human smuggling ring.
Gen. Somyot Poompanmoung, the chief of police, said the bombing was carried out by a human trafficking network that “moved Uighurs from one place to another.” If true, the bombing — which killed 20 people, most of them ethnic Chinese tourists — would be the first known Uighur terrorist attack outside China, a development that could have security implications for China and its citizens worldwide.
He said the bombing was a retaliation. “Put simply, we destroyed their business,” he said. But many questions remain unanswered about the attack, for which no one has claimed responsibility.
Local news outlets have speculated for weeks that the attack was a response to the Thai government’s repatriation in July of more than 100 ethnic Uighurs to China. Human rights groups, foreign governments and activists criticized the move, saying the Uighurs were likely to face persecution on their return. Suspicion fell on Uighur militants almost immediately after the attack, which occurred just weeks after Thailand sent 109 Uighurs back to China, their heads covered in hoods, a move widely criticized by foreign governments and activists who said the Uighurs were likely to face persecution there.
The Thai police had previously said that one of the suspects had a Chinese passport that showed that he was from Xinjiang, the Uighur homeland in far western China. But the authorities said that they did not know whether the passport was genuine, and they had played down possible ties to the repatriation. Two weeks ago, the Thai police arrested a suspect with a Chinese passport indicating that he was from Xinjiang, the northwestern region in China that is home to Uighurs. Several other suspects are Turks, who share linguistic and cultural traits with the Uighurs. Some Turkish nationalists have embraced the Uighur cause.
On Tuesday, General Somyot also elaborated on a possible motive, suggesting that in addition to being angry that a human trafficking network was broken up, the perpetrators were upset at the repatriation. But if Uighur militants were responsible, the bombing would be a departure from previous attacks attributed to them, which were carried out with knives.
The Uighurs were sent back to China, their heads covered with hoods. Hours later, a mob attacked Thailand’s consulate in Istanbul. Turkey has linguistic and cultural links with the Uighurs. The bomb, which exploded at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine during the evening rush hour in a busy shopping district on Aug. 17, seemed intended to cause maximum carnage. The bomb was placed under a bench next to the shrine, which is popular with foreign tourists, especially ethnic Chinese.
General Somyot linked the attack on the consulate with the bombing, saying both episodes were driven by “the same motive.” Such bombs are more common in war-torn nations in the Middle East than in China, suggesting that if Uighurs were behind the attack, they might have had help from allies more versed in bomb-making.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said that Thailand had come under pressure from China to send back the Uighurs, all of whom were men. At the same time, Thailand sent a group of Uighur women and children to Turkey. Speaking at a media briefing, Gen. Somyot Poompanmoung, Thailand’s chief of police, said the bombing had been carried out by a human trafficking network that “moved Uighurs from one place to another.”
Concerned about damage to Thailand’s lucrative tourism industry and their relations with China, officials had until Tuesday been circumspect about the reasons for the bombing. The military government went as far as to bar officials from using the word terrorism to describe the attack. The authorities had also barred officials from mentioning the possibility of Uighur involvement. Calling the bombing retaliation for the dismantling of the trafficking business and for the repatriation, he said, “Put simply, we destroyed their business.”
The Chinese government has also been reticent about the case. At a news conference on Tuesday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, was asked about recent developments. In general, the Thai authorities, concerned about their lucrative tourism industry, have been less than forthcoming about the case, at one point directing officials not to use the words Uighur or terrorism while discussing the investigation.
“The case is still under investigation,” he said. “I don’t have more information for you at the moment.” The police explanation of the motive has already been widely challenged. While the local news media and others have long suspected that the bombing might have been payback for the repatriations, Thai news outlets have expressed skepticism over the suggestion that it was tied to the crackdown on human trafficking. One Thai newspaper called the claim “unreasonable” because, if it were true, there would have been a more intensive crackdown on traffickers after the bombing.
The Aug. 17 blast at the Erawan Shrine in the heart of the city was the worst bombing in Thailand’s recent history. The shrine is frequented by Chinese tourists, who were among the dead. The police explanation fits a pattern of obfuscation and reticence about the case by not only officials in Thailand, but also those in China and Turkey.
The first suspect arrested in the case was found in an apartment in a northern Bangkok suburb with bomb-making materials. His lawyer says that he is Turkish and had nothing to do with the attack but was brought to the apartment by a smuggling network that had promised to send him to Malaysia. The second suspect holds a Chinese passport. Since the Thai military seized power in a coup last year, drawing criticism from the United States and the West, Thailand has seemed to move closer to China. Thailand’s leaders are wary of disturbing its relationship with China, the source of millions of tourists and the country’s largest trade partner.
Among those for whom the Thai police have issued warrants are a Thai woman and her Turkish husband, two other Turkish men and a Chinese national who flew to Bangladesh from Thailand on the day before the attack. On Monday, Col. Winthai Suvaree, the spokesman for Thailand’s military government, warned the Thai news media to avoid analysis of the attack that might affect “international relationships,” a comment that many interpreted to mean China.
Many Uighurs say they are discriminated against by the Chinese government and by the Han, China’s main ethnic group. The government’s policies have been denounced as repressive and anti-Islamic by Uighurs and by many foreign scholars and officials. But Thailand has made it clear that the Uighurs were repatriated at China’s request, a decision Thailand seems unlikely to repeat anytime soon.
China says its policies are in response to terrorism by militant Uighur separatist groups. China has been oddly silent, deferring to the Thai police.
Since 2009, there has been a rise in violence along an arc of oasis towns in Xinjiang. There have also been a few notable outbursts of violence involving Uighurs in cities outside Xinjiang; the most prominent took place in the train station of Kunming in March 2014, when a handful of Uighurs armed with long knives or swords killed at least 29 people and wounded nearly 150 others. Asked about the case at a news conference on Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said only: “The case is still under investigation. I don’t have more information for you at the moment.”
Chinese officials have generally said that Uighurs carry out attacks with knives. The bombing in Bangkok was a more sophisticated assault that is common in war-riven nations in the Middle East, but has rarely been used in China. China has for decades maintained that there is no ethnic conflict within Chinese borders and that any acts of violence involving Tibetans, Uighurs or other ethnic minorities are carried out by a few disaffected individuals who have been led astray by outside forces.
If Thai officials are correct, the Bangkok bombing would be the first known terrorist attack by Uighurs outside China. Turkey has been increasingly involved in the Uighur issue in recent years and is home to an estimated 20,000 Uighurs. Hours after the Thai government repatriated the Uighurs in early July, angry mobs of nationalist Turks and Uighurs attacked Thailand’s consulate in Istanbul.
At least one militant Uighur group, the Turkestan Islamic Party, is based in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan. On Tuesday, the Thai police chief linked the attack on the consulate with the Bangkok bombing, saying both episodes were driven by “the same motive.”
There have been instances in which foreign officials have accused Uighurs of being part of terrorist plots. In 2010, Norwegian officials said one of three men arrested in Norway and Germany and accused of planning a bombing was a Uighur. The men never carried out the plot. The comment was the first time the police had tied the bombing to the repatriation.
Uighurs are the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang, according to official statistics, though waves of ethnic Han migrants to Xinjiang have been shifting the demographics in recent years. Some Uighurs argue that a part of Xinjiang should be a separate state called East Turkestan, which in theory would be the easternmost country in a line of Turkic-speaking nations stretching from Turkey through Central Asia. Turkey also has taken an arms-length approach to the case.
Some Thai officials have said that a Chinese national now in Turkey, Abudureheman Abudusataer, may have masterminded the attack, and the Thai authorities are seeking Turkish assistance in tracking him down.
But the Turkish Embassy in Bangkok on Tuesday issued a statement saying it had not been contacted by the Thai authorities about him.
On Monday, a Turkish official said the country had no record of the suspect entering Turkey.
“We are now trying to understand why the Thai government is insisting on implicating Turkish citizens in this attack,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol. “All Turkey has been linked to so far is baseless speculation.”
But other suspects in the bombing were Turkish, and the Thai authorities say one of them was found in an apartment in a northern Bangkok suburb that contained bomb-making materials and stacks of fake Turkish passports. The human smuggling network, the Thai police say, involved transporting Uighurs to Turkey.
In addition to seeking Mr. Abudusataer, the Thai police have issued warrants for a Thai woman and her Turkish husband, both believed to be in Turkey, and two other Turkish men.
But in an investigation that has been hindered by false leads and confusing signals, Thailand’s police say they still have not found the mastermind of the attack or the man in a yellow shirt who was seen on security cameras as he placed a backpack under the bench shortly before the explosion.
The police have not explained specifically what role the Uighurs are suspected of playing in the bombing. As the search for perpetrators continues, analysts point out that Thailand’s military government has made a number of enemies.
The potential Turkish connections to the attack raise questions about growing alliances with the Uighurs and an expansion of their conflict with China.
While many Uighurs resent Chinese policies that they say discriminate against them and feel closer cultural and religious ties to the Muslim Turkic people to the west, only a minority of them advocate separation from China, and only a small number have taken up arms.
But since 2009, violence linked to Uighurs inside China has risen along an arc of oasis towns in Xinjiang, as well as in the region’s capital, Urumqi. Deadly attacks have also taken place outside the region, notably in the train station of Kunming in March 2014, when a handful of Uighurs armed with long knives or swords killed at least 29 people and wounded nearly 150 others.
“First, we saw violence out there escalating, then we saw it showing up around the country, and now we are seeing it happen abroad,” said Raffaello Pantucci, director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London.
“The outstanding question for me, however, is whether we can say that this is somehow directed or pushed from Xinjiang or whether it is rather linked to Turkic nationalists,” he added. “The Turkic community has always championed the Uighur cause, and is behind a lot of the protests in Turkey, so it would make sense they are also linked into criminal human-smuggling networks that might be the source of this particular plot.
“If this shakes out as it seems to be, it seems to be a particularly worrying development.”