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Man Held In Hunt For Bangkok Bomb Suspects

Police in Bangkok say they have arrested one of the suspects in the bombing that killed 20 people earlier this month.

The man, who has been named as Adem Karadag, was arrested after police raided an apartment in the city's north.

They found a fake Turkish passport, many other passports and suspected bomb-making materials, including explosives and a detonator.

They would not confirm the 28-year-old's nationality but Reuters news agency said he was being held on initial charges of possessing illegal explosives and has been in Thailand since January 2014.

A police spokesman also said the bomb materials found were "the same, similar or the same type" as the ones used in the two bombs - the one at the Erawan Hindu shrine and one at the Chao Phraya river a day later, which caused little damage.

When asked what the motive could have been for the bombing, the spokesman told a news conference: "It's unlikely to be terrorism. It's not an international terrorist act".

When pushed further, he said the motive was "taking personal revenge for his comrades".

He did not explain what he meant.

After the 17 August blast, police released a sketch of the man seen on security camera footage leaving a rucksack on a bench and walking away.

Another camera showed the suspect, who was wearing a yellow T-shirt, on the back of a motorbike taxi leaving the scene.

Police have given contradictory responses to whether the man is the chief suspect or not, saying earlier that the man in custody matched the description of the main suspect, a spokesman adding: "He looks like the one we are looking for".

But later on Saturday they instead said the suspect was not the bomber seen in the video.

Authorities also said they are monitoring about 1,000 mobile phone numbers and checking photographs in 200 seized passports in their hunt for the rest of the group they blame for the bombing.

The blast happened near the Erawan Hindu shrine in the downtown Chidlom district, a popular shopping hub.

Many of those killed were tourists, including people from China or Hong Kong.

They also included Vivian Chan, 19, a British law student who was a Hong Kong resident. At least 117 people were wounded, some of whom lost limbs.

Police have been criticised for their investigation - releasing contradictory statements and even hosing down the crime scene at the shrine before all the evidence had been collected.

It is thought the attacker first took a motorcycle away from the shrine before travelling in the taxi from Bangkok's central business district to the main train station.

However, 75% of the security cameras along the attacker's getaway route were broken at the time.

The investigation was also hampered by a lack of sophisticated equipment, with a national police chief saying: "Have you seen CSI? We don't have those things."