Bangkok.
A huge explosion in central Bangkok has killed at least 12 people and injured about 20, news agency Reuters has quoted police and rescuers as saying.
“I can confirm it was a bomb, we can’t tell which kind yet, we are checking,” national police spokesman Lieutenant General Prawut Thavornsiri told news agency AFP.
Body parts were scattered across the street after the bomb went off outside the Erawan Shrine in the downtown Chidlom district of the Thai capital.
The enormously popular shrine to Lord Brahma is located in a commercial hub of Bangkok. Thousands of Buddhist devotees visit it every day.
It is located on a main road through Bangkok’s commercial hub and is surrounded by three major shopping malls.
Police and ambulances rushed to the scene after the bomb went off.
The army has ruled Thailand since May 2014, when it ousted an elected government after months of, at times, violent anti-government protests.
