Three bombs went off in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 71 Valentine’s Day yesterday, blowing off the legs of one Iranian suspect and injuring five Thais.
According to the AP, police said that three men fled a house in the area after a bomb went off – one escaped and is still wanted; one was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport; the third man threw one explosive at a taxi and another at approaching Thai police. The explosive aimed at police somehow bounced back at him and blew off his legs.
The aftermath of the bombing was documented by a motorcycle taxi driver who uploaded graphic photos of the injured man to the internet.
Coconuts Bangkok spoke to American expat Mark Mitchell, 27, who was in about 200 meters away when one of the bombs went off on Soi 71. “I didn’t actually see it directly. The police got there around three minutes after the explosion. There was a body and looked like his legs were blown off from the shins down. The explosion had blown glass from a telephone booth all over the street. There was only one victim. And there were two black trash-bags lying on the ground next to the body and one was torn up,” said Mitchell.
“People were fairly calm, but nobody was running or anything like that. Some people were taking photos. People were oddly calm about it,” he continued. “Then the ambulance came but I think it was too late. I’m quite certain he was dead. He had lost both feet and he wasn’t moving.”
The suspect, identified by police as Iranian national Saeid Moradi, is actually still alive according to several reports and was taken Chulalongkorn Hospital.
The Bangkok Post identified three other Thais injured in the blasts as Apichart Khamlue, 33, Kangwal Horprasartthong, 80, and Suthathip Sajjadamrong, 62.
The Post reported that the second suspect Mohummad Hazaei, 42 and holding an Iranian passport, was apprehended last evening at Suvarnabhumi Airport trying to board a flight to Malaysia.
National police chief Pol Gen Priewpan Damapong said that all three men arrived in Thailand Feb. 8 on a flight from Malaysia that landed in Phuket.
Video of the aftermath of the bombing from Thai TV and re-broadcasted by the UK’s Telegraph is below the photo.
