THAILAND: Erawan Shrine Suspected Bomber Arrested

Thai police have arrested a suspect in a bombing that killed 20 people and wounded scores more at a shrine in Bangkok this month, authorities said Saturday.

The man, also suspected of involvement in a second blast a day later in Bangkok, was arrested at an apartment in a suburb of Bangkok, police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri said.

However, he is not the man in a yellow T-shirt and dark-framed glasses who was identified from surveillance video as the chief suspect in the bombing, Prawut said.

"The man we have is not the man in the sketch, but we believe he is part of the network which carried out the two bomb incidents," he said.

Prawut initially said the suspect arrested Saturday was a Turkish national. But he subsequently said: "At first we thought he is Turkish. But we just found out two Turkish passports he is holding are all fake.

"We also found many empty fake passports, also various kinds of evidences."

Prawut said investigators hunting for clues had "also found the same type of ball bearings in this man's apartment."

High ranking police officers, forensic experts and army personnel were all seen outside the building shortly after news of the arrest broke.

The apartment is in the Nong Jok suburb, an area known to house a large Muslim community.

The deadly explosion at Bangkok's Erawan Shrine -- a spot popular with tourists and locals -- wreaked havoc on August 17. The second blast, which occurred at a pier on the Chao Phraya River that flows through Bangkok, did not cause any casualties.