The United States Embassy in Bangkok on Friday issued a security alert for its citizens in Thailand, a day after the deportation of a group of Uyghurs to China.
“Similar deportations have prompted violent retaliatory attacks in the past,” the notice posted on the embassy website said.
“Most notably, in the wake of a 2015 deportation of Uyghurs from Thailand, improvised explosive devices detonated at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok killing 20 people and injuring 125 others as this shrine is heavily visited by tourists from China,” it added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier condemned Thailand’s return of the 40 Uyghurs to China, where Washington says members of the Muslim group have faced genocide.
Thai authorities have insisted that the Uyghurs returned voluntarily and that China had guaranteed they would not be harmed.
Diplomats and security analysts say Thailand’s widely condemned deportation of 109 Uyghurs to China in July 2015 led to the deadly bombing a month later at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people in what was the worst attack of its kind on Thai soil.
Thai authorities at the time concluded the attack was linked to their crackdown on a human trafficking ring, without specifically linking the group to the Uyghurs. Two ethnic Uyghur men were arrested in connection with the incident and their trial is proceeding, despite repeated delays.
The Japanese embassy in Thailand also sent an email warning its citizens in the wake of Thursday’s deportation, the mission told Reuters.
“This is not a change in risk assessment about Thailand,” it said in an email.
The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately comment on the security alert and email warning.
