CRI听力:Deadly Bomb Blast Hits Bangkok, Killing 22

The Erawan Shrine, in downtown Bangkok, where the blast took place last night around 7pm is a major tourist attraction.

"I heard an explosion. My heart was beating fast but I wasn't afraid, so I came in to see. I saw wounded people with arms ripped off from the shoulder, another's leg was ripped off. I helped carry them into the hospital."

Many of the victims are believed to be foreign tourists.

So far there's been no claim of responsibility.

Thailand's National police chief Somyot Poompummuang has confirmed the bombing has killed 10 Thai nationals, 3 Chinese, 1 Filipino and five others whose identities are yet to be confirmed.

"The blast radius of the bomb is about 100 metres. The bomb experts say that the bomb weighed about 3 kg."

The Police chief says the bombers appear to have been targeting foreigners.

"The perpetrators are cruel and heartless because they intend to take lives. Everyone knows that at 7 pm at the shrine there are a lot of people gathered around there – both Thais and foreign tourists - so if they plant a bomb there they know or can assume they will cause casualties."

Around 3kg of TNT was stuffed into a pipe inside the shrine.

It was set off electronically.

Police discovered the detonator 30 metres from the scene of the blast.

The shrine is located at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Bangkok, which has been the centre of political demonstrations in recent years.

Thai authorities are promising swift action to find those responsible.

Sansern Kaewkamserd with the Thai government says they're setting up a "war room" to co-ordinate the response.

"The government insists that we will do everything in our power to investigate, with our utmost effort, to bring those involved and who are behind all of this to be sentenced."

All schools in the Bangkok Municipal Area are closed this Tuesday due to security concerns.

No city-wide curfew has been issued.

Bangkok had been relatively peaceful since a military coup ousted the civilian government of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra last May.

Bangkok is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.

"When we left Germany, we did not think about anything like this could happen here in Bangkok, like in the city centre. We were thinking about not going to Egypt, not going to Morocco, Tunisia, or Syria or whatever, but we were not thinking about not going to Bangkok and our honeymoon and our vacation will go on, but with a very unsafe feeling."

Thai investigators are looking into the possibility the attack could involve an international terror group.

Bombings in Thailand are often connected to political unrest or the Muslim insurgency in the southern regions of the country, and have rarely involved foreigners.

For CRI, I'm Poornima Weerasekara.