Bangkok bomb: Attacks at Erawan Shrine and Sathorn Pier work of same bombers

A bomb thrown from a bridge at Bangkok's Sathorn pier and device at Erawan Shrine are from the same perpetrators, say Thai police. Explosive ordnance disposal technicians found TNT was used in both devices, which had been stuffed into a metal pipe with a timed fuse.

Divers retrieved a half dozen metal fragments of the pipe bomb thrown from the Taksin road and rail bridge near the BTS Saphan Taksin station, said Pol Gen Somyot.

The explosive device bounced off a post and into the Sathorn canal where it detonated without doing any damage, but sent up a huge spout of water. No one was harmed or injured in the incident.

Pol Gen Somyot believed there was more than one person behind the two bombings and that both Thais and foreign nationals were involved.

"I can tell you now that there are not only foreigners involved in the incidents but some Thais must have taken part," the police chief told the Bangkok Post. Foreigners, he said "could not have ... walked their way onto the (Taksin] bridge. There must be Thai people involved whose hearts are not Thai."

Sathorn pier is a major terminal and also a major tourist stop, especially for Chinese tour groups.

Thai national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said the death toll stood at 22 from the bombing, with 123 people wounded.

Pol Gen Somyot admitted that police briefly arrested a foreign man at Suvarnabhumi airport who appeared similar to CCTV images of the prime suspect. He was stopped by immigration officials due to a problem with his travel documents but they released him so that he could rectify the problem. He has not been allowed to leave Thailand.

Police refused to rule out he was the same man in the yellow t-shirt who appeared in the Erawan CCTV footage.

An Australian model and English tutor living in Thailand said that police planned to search his home for bombs, apparently suspecting that the 26-year-old was behind the horrific bombing in Bangkok.

Sunny Burns posted a selfie on his Facebook page showing him in a room where he said he was talking with police. He later said he was in a police car. "They are going to search my house for bombs," he wrote in a Facebook post. "Police are great, doing their job and allowing me to use my phone."

He added: "I'm not a terrorist and the photo of the terrorist looks nothing like me."