Thai court sentences two Uyghur men to death for 2015 Bangkok bombing

A Thai court handed out death sentences on Thursday to two ethnic Uyghur men from the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang for a 2015 bombing in the centre of Bangkok that killed 20 people, according to a court statement.



The explosion occurred at the Erawan Shrine in the centre of Bangkok, an area popular with foreign tourists.



As well as the 20 people killed, another 120 were injured. Five of the dead were from mainland China and two from Hong Kong.



"The actions of both defendants constitute multiple separate offenses," the court statement said, adding that the sentence included punishment for the charge of premeditated murder, which resulted in the death penalty.



Both of the accused will appeal the sentence within a month, a lawyer for one of the men, Choochat Kanpai, told reporters.



No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but security experts say it was an act of retaliation against the forced deportation of more than 100 Uyghurs from Thailand in the previous month.