(VOVworld) – Thai authorities are now certain that last month’s deadly bombing at a Bangkok shrine was related to a criminal gang trafficking Uighur Muslims from China to Turkey, Thailand’s national police chief Somyot Poompanmoung said Tuesday. 

Police attend the scene of Erawan shrine bombing in August (Photo: AP)

His comments marked the first time Thai authorities have publicly linked the attack to the smuggling of Uighurs, after weeks of hinting at it. The Thai police chief told reporters Tuesday that human smuggling groups, which normally transfer Uighurs from one country to another, may have conducted the attack to retaliate against a Thai police campaign targeting them. Thai police have arrested 2 foreign suspects. One of the two suspects is Yusufu Mieraili, whose passport says his origin is Xinjiang, China.