Bangkok bomb: Two suspects cleared after handing themselves in

The pair were filmed by security cameras standing near the prime suspect in Monday's blast at the Erawan Shrine, which killed 20 people.Two men identified as suspects in the Bangkok bombing have been cleared of involvement, police say.

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Media captionThe main suspect, in yellow, deposits a backpack on a bench before walking off

The pair were filmed by security cameras standing near the prime suspect in Monday's blast at the Erawan Shrine, which killed 20 people.Two men identified as suspects in the Bangkok bombing have been cleared of involvement, police say.

A police spokesman said they have now discovered one of the men was a Chinese tourist and the other was his Thai tour guide.

Police told the BBC they believe their main suspect is still in Thailand.

Dozens of people were injured in the explosion, with some losing limbs.

Shrapnel

The police had said that at least 10 people were suspected of involvement in the attack, and that the prime suspect was foreign.

What we know so far?

The messy theories behind the Thai bomb

The remains of some of the victims have been released to their families

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Media captionLocals will never forget the bombing, but life goes on at the shrine

Earlier on Thursday, Col Winthai Suvaree, a spokesman for the ruling military junta, said the preliminary conclusion was that it was "unlikely" the attack was the work of an international terror group.

However, he later told Associated Press that a global terrorism link had not been ruled out, saying: "We still have to investigate in more detail."

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says police are also questioning a tuk-tuk taxi driver who drove the main suspect to the shrine, but are making slow progress in identifying the name and nationality of the man in yellow.

He adds that, although the shrine has been cleaned up, a BBC team was still able to find bomb shrapnel embedded in a wall nearby, suggesting the forensic teams have not yet collected all possible evidence from the area.

Thai police released this sketch of the "man in yellow", suspected of planting the bomb

Images released by Thai police show him in a tuk-tuk near the shrine before the bombing...

... and riding away from the scene afterwards on the back of a motorcycle taxi

No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.

National police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said he believed the attack was planned at least a month in advance.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has called the bombing the "worst ever attack" on Thailand.

Twelve of the 20 dead in Monday's attack were foreigners, including nationals from China, Hong Kong, the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Bangkok explosion