Story highlights
A Thai court issues a fifth arrest warrant in relation to bombings in Bangkok last week
The police say they also plan to seek a sixth court warrant
The Bangkok blasts came after bombs targeted Israelis in India and Georgia
Israel and Iran have traded accusations over who is to blame for the bombings
The Thai police are seeking more suspects in connection with the series of bombs that went off in Bangkok last week as they try to piece together the facts in a murky affair that has fueled accusations between Israel and Iran.
A court on Monday issued an arrest warrant for Norouzi Shayan Ali Akbar, a 57-year-old Iranian man, on charges of possession and assembly of explosive devices. It is the fifth court warrant in the investigation so far.
The police plan to request another warrant for an unidentified sixth suspect but do not have enough evidence at the moment, said Gen. Pansiri Prapawat, the deputy national police chief who is heading the investigation into the bombings.
Police officials are no longer talking about Nikkhahfard Javad, a man they said last week they were going to seek an arrest warrant for.
The Bangkok blasts went off a day after a device attached to an Israeli Embassy van in New Delhi exploded, wounding several people. Another device, found on an embassy car in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, was safety detonated.
The Thai National Security Council has drawn a tentative link between the bombs in Bangkok and those in India and Georgia, saying the materials used in the explosive devices were similar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Tehran for the attacks. But Iran has denied the accusation, saying that “Israeli agents are often the perpetrators of such terrorist acts.”
The Indian police remained tight lipped about their investigations into the New Delhi explosion.
“I am sorry that cannot be discussed,” P.N. Aggarwal, the chief of the police unit looking into the attack, said when asked about any possible leads in the case.
Indian officers have not so far named Iranians as possible suspects.
Thai authorities have said that three Iranian suspects have been detained: Saeid Moradi, 28, whose legs were blown off by his own bomb; and Mohammad Khazaei, 42, who was taken into custody Tuesday at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport as he tried to board a plane to Malaysia.
Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, 31, was arrested Wednesday by Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur. Thailand is seeking to have him extradited.
All three face charges that include joint assembling of explosive devices, joint possession of explosive devices without permits and causing an explosion injuring other persons. Moradi also faces charges of attempted killing of state officials on duty and the intentional attempted killing of other persons.
A fourth Iranian, a woman identified as Rohani Leila, remains at large. She is suspected of renting the house where the first device exploded.
The police on Monday took Khazaei, wearing handcuffs and a bullet proof vest, to a number of different places in Bangkok, including where the bombs went off, as part of their investigation.
Dressed in shorts and sandals, Khazaei was then escorted to a busy train station where he was seen pointing out different areas to detectives for at least 20 minutes.
CNN’s Harmeet Singh and Anna Coren contributed to this report.