Yusufu Mieraili, arrested last week, confessed the name of the "mastermind" of the bomb attack. Known as "Izaan", perhaps of Chinese nationality, he left Thailand on the day before the explosion. "Izaan" coordinated the actions of all men so far investigated. Mieraili was also found guilty of illegal possession of explosives.

Bangkok (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Yusufu Mieraili, the ethnic Uyghur man arrested last week on the border with Cambodia in the course of investigations into the Bangkok bombing on August 17 last, has named the "mastermind" behind the attack that killed 20 people and injured over a hundred. He is known as "Izaan" and, according Mieraili, flew from Thailand to China the day before the explosion, before travelling to Bangladesh.

According to the a confession made to police, Izaan coordinated all the terrorist act, communicating with his accomplices by messages on WhatsApp. Izaan Mieraili gave instructions on how to buy chemical materials online to make the bomb.

The man then commanded the Uyghur to leave the bomb under a bench near Hua Lamphong Station in Bangkok. According Mieraili, the suspect in yellow t-shirt (whom he never met in person)  picked up the bomb and then placed it next to the Erawan temple, thesite of the explosion. The testimony corroborates that of the alleged taxi driver who accompanied the man in yellow.

Besides Mieraili and the unknown man in the yellow shirt, other suspects include Adem Karadag - arrested three days before Yusufu in a Bangkok apartment containing explosive material - the man in blue taken while carrying a second bomb that exploded  on a pier of the capital and another unidentified man who used a second apartment where chemical materials were found.

Yusufu Mieraili was transferred yesterday to the police after a week of interrogation by the army. During one of the conversations, recorded on camera, Mieraili pleaded "guilty"  to illegal possession of explosives, the charge he was arrested on. It is unclear whether this confession will be legally upheld in court.

Police claimed that Mieraili’s fingerprints were found in both apartments containing chemical material, in which more than 200 fake Turkish passports were also found.

The likely Uyghur origins of more than one alleged offender has increased suspicions that the attack is a revenge by the Muslim ethnicity against the government in Bangkok. At the beginning of July, nearly 100 Uyghurs were forcibly repatriated to China by Thai authorities.

• THAILAND
• BANGKOK
• BOMBING
• SUSPECT
• UYGHURS
• CHINA