Thai police chief links China's Uygur minority to Bangkok bomb for the first time
Attack was revenge by people smugglers after their networks were disrupted, authorities say
Thailand’s police chief on Tuesday linked the Bangkok bomb to China’s Uygur minority, the first time he has referenced the ethnic group after weeks of skirting around their possible involvement in the attack.
The August 17 bombing killed 20 people, tincluding seven from mainland China and Hong Kong, raising the possibility of a link to militants or supporters of the Uygurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group who say they face heavy persecution in mainland China.
A month earlier Thailand had forcibly deported more than 100 Uygur refugees to China, sparking international condemnation as well as violent protests in Turkey, where nationalist hardliners see the minority as part of a global Turkic-speaking family.
Read more: Beijing rejects ‘hugely irresponsible’ speculation that Uygur militants were behind Bangkok bombing
The police however blame a gang of people smugglers for the attack, motivated by revenge for a crackdown on their lucrative trade through Thailand, a motive which has been widely dismissed by security experts.
“The cause was the human trafficking networks – networks transferring Uygurs from one country to another. Thai authorities destroyed or obstructed their human-trafficking businesses,” Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters on Tuesday, explaining the apparent motive for the attack.
It was the first time Thai police have formally referenced the Uygurs in relation to the case, after issuing a retraction of a mention of the group over the weekend.
Analysts say Thailand is keen to avoid naming Uygurs for economic and diplomatic reasons.
Chinese visitors are a lynchpin of the tourist industry, and Beijing remains one of the increasingly isolated Thai junta’s few international allies.
Read more: Who are Uygurs? A look at the minority group from China's restive Xinjiang
But arrest warrants, passports and travel itineraries of the main suspects all point towards the involvement of militants from the ethnic group or their supporters.
Nearly a month on, Thailand has two foreigners in custody and a dozen arrest warrants issued.
One of the two suspects in custody, Yusufu Mieraili, was arrested with a Chinese passport that gave his birthplace as Xinjiang, the far western regional homeland of the Uygurs.
Almost all the other identified suspects have Turkish sounding names or links.
Uygurs have long accused Beijing of religious and cultural repression, with hundreds of refugees believed to have fled in recent years, often heading to Turkey via Southeast Asia.
