casualties. authorities believe the victims include many thais, but many are fighting for their lives in hospitals across bangkok. security forces have cordoned off the area, and there is a second on detonated on that was found nearby.

the public are monitoring the situation, and the security agency is for those who may have caused this incident. it is too early to speculate which group may have been responsible. thailand is no stranger. the military toppled the elected government. this is a key sites, where political protesters have gathered in the past. anchor: let's ring in a political blogger. any sense of who might be behind this?

any vocal opposition? >> it has been so far curtailed, or not so gently, but having read that, this kind of attack, this kind of incident would be out of character, for any group that would be opposed to them. they are exactly playing into the hand of the military government, seeking to have a tight grip on the control. anchor: yes, indeed. it seems whoever committed this definitely wanted to exact casualties. this was rush hour, as we heard. where this attack was committed. >> it is a very, very popular religious shrine, also with local is, and no matter if they are hindus or others.

it is at a very busy area in bangkok that has many luxury malls. and whoever did this attack, which is unprecedented for thailand in recent years, they have been planning to have mass casualties. anchor: unprecedented in bangkok, indeed. this has been taking place over the past decade. some estimate say as many as 5000 people are killed in the past decade. could it be potentially a change in tactic? could the conflict becoming north? >> this is highly unlikely, because as they said, the separatist conflict has been going on with 10 years with casualties, and it has been very isolated in thailand, and they have rallied. this would be very

uncharacteristic, and as i said before, this is a new dimension of this kind of incident in thailand, but it is still too early to they whoever did this, but whoever did this is causing unrest, and it is also a good president -- precedent for the government to have more grip on control. anchor: that is our thai journalist. there are parliamentary elections that will decide. there was a 30-year civil war against the tamil tiger rebels, and he hopes to stage a comeback as the prime minister. some herald him as a hero who brought peace to the community, and others accuse him of war crimes. the alliance that toppled him is looking to have voters look to

the future. >> they dodged the rain in the sri lanka elections. the country government called ahead of schedule, hoping voters -- when the prime minister arrived to cast his vote, he took the opportunity of how important the elections were. >> -- reporter: a are trying to make a clean break with the sri lanka's troubled past, and critics accuse this man of war crimes, something he denies. >> we have a system. there was no evidence at all.

reporter: now he is that of becoming prime minister. he is looking to silence critical media outlets. her husband was a tamil tiger fighter. thousands of people are still trying to account for lost loved ones, and he is collecting -- she is collecting missing persons cases. we never wanted to take up arms. we were forced into it. there was a solution. that would be an agreement we could accept. he exudes confidence. the government is just as confident that he will win. it was hard to decide whether he is a man of the past or the man who would shape their future. anchor: for thousands of

migrants, there is a greek island that has become a prime destination for people fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries. now, to cope with the huge number of migrants, some are being moved to a passenger ship that is set to house some 2500 people before they can be transferred to the mainland, but every night, there are new arrivals. just a small piece of ground out in the open. that is about all they have. they have no desire to stay here. thousands are waiting to cross to the greek island of cos. many of them are syrians. we have two w choices here. our future or death. we have to cross the sea and begin our future. their next stop is already inside. the island is just four, to away. the journey and small, rubber boats begins in nightfall.

growing numbers of migrants are choosing this shorter escape path across the sea. but they are not exactly welcome in cos. thousands are already stranded here. they wait to be registered in the brutal heat, and with not enough water or food. without being registered, they cannot continue their journey to the mainland. the authorities are overwhelmed. have documented their reasons for fleeing on their mobile phones. >> then, i decided to come here. to save my family. there were a lot of fighting in syria. anchor: only a few of them want to stay in greece.

>> we come here. after that, we will go to europe or germany. anchor: most of them will travel on to macedonia and try to make it to central europe from there. like these people, in a town on the macedonian greek border. everyone wants to be first to get on a train to take them across the border. those who do not make it start the long journey on foot. from serbia, they want to cross to hungary. what they do not know is that hungary is ceiling their borders to keep them out. the border fence is nearly complete. when finished, those migrants who tried to make it to the balkans will have to try another route. anchor: and as we have heard, many of them are from syria. the warhead, and at least one order of a million people have been killed. some have led a broad or are in turn linked is late, and there

are now numerous factions fighting the government of bashar al-assad, but it is a complex picture. some parts of the country are in a desperate state, while others are more table. reporter: the grim aftermath of one of the deadliest attacks since the start of the civil war in 2011, and there were many who were killed on sunday. it is the same area where overnment forces are accused of carrying out a poison gas attack in 2013. the head of the u.n. refugee agency said he was horrified by the indiscriminate use of wars targeting civilians. -- use of force targeting civilians. it is this enduring chaos that has forced many civilians to leave their homes. we visited the syrian border with turkey. it is the center of a region where 250,000 people, many of

them kurds, lived under islamic state control until late june. it is slowly getting back to normal, reminders of the horrors are still abundant. they beheaded people here, and then they place the heads on this arrow. some were decapitated. others work with and beaten, while others had to sit here for punishment. there was a 32-year-old who lives with her husband and children. >> i did not leave the house. i did not want them to see me. many of them were taken and beaten because they were not dressed robert lee. others were imprisoned or taken away -- were not dressed properly, and others were imprisoned or taken away. >> i had no life. our l l l l l l l l l l l l l lw one of them, we did not want to pass them. we do not want to be stopped.

we did not know what would happen. reporter: the piece here is still not secure -- peace is still not secure, and a return to i us control is still not known.% -- two -- to i.s. control is not known. anchor: needing more time before siding, a central african country has been at war since december 2013, and they are urging the warring actions to reach a deal by today or faith -- the warring factions to reach a deal by today or face an issue. both kiev and russian-backed rebels accuse each other of inflaming a situation. you are watching dw news.

and there is a trade deal that includes an ambitious new pipeline between two countries, but there are concerns that it could be vulnerable to oklahoma prom -- two boko haram militants. don't go away. i am sarah kelly in berlin. >> [speaking foreign

language] sarah: you are watching two news from berlin. our top story at this hour. people killed, within 100 injured in the thai capital of bangkok. a device went off at a busy intersection near a popular shrine, and foreigners are among the head. no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which has shocked the country. in colombia, thousands of children have been kidnapped and killed during decades of conflict between government forces and the leftist farc movement. they have failed to address the

issue of human rights issues on both sides, and this has left many of those affected to cope on their own. reporter: unable to hold their missing children, they channeled the pain to the symbol of a better pass. each of these women has lost a son or a daughter, taken by the colombian armed conflict. they need once a week to support each other and to spend time making these dolls. this one is her only son, and the card attached was bearing witness to his mother's suffering. "i am looking for my son," it says, "and the truth." >> this is something that has helped us, to be able to work on nadal and to say i going to address it like my son.

-- to work on the doll and to say i am going to address it -- dress it like my son. reporter: the dolls are dressed to look like their sons and daughters, and each one carries an identity card, telling their story. >> healing means getting back the memory of the child. it means that the doll will live on, and it is going to have a person who will adopt it and love it. reporter: like thousands of others in colombia, they have learned to live with a sense of hopelessness. the dolls they have made are a monument to their silence pain. sarah: and ben is on the

business desk, and there are the aspirations to become a global oil producing hub. can they do it? ben: yes, and we will talk to our correspondent. nigeria and uganda and others went to get in on the act. they have discovered valuable deposits, and now they are working together on a pipeline project that is absolutely massive. as you can see there, it begins here and goes through the oil producing fields and then on to the city. the two nations signed off on a bilateral trade agreement just last week. it also included other economic sectors, and first this. reporter: neighboring countries have something in common, with annual economic growth. this is in sub-saharan africa, and they have got oil, lots of oil.

this has given them and asked her boost. there were increased cooperation. they were importing sugar from uganda. this is as news for the sugar producers. there were problems. in the near future, there will be able to send meat products, and it is the oil pipeline that could prove risky. it will pass through a region currently plagued by islamic boko haram. they are where they could attack the pipeline. ben: edith, this has the potential obviously to change the face of this too bad or

worse. edith: between uganda and others, they are trying to attract oil investors. they are not ready to commit financially until the route of the pipeline is laid out, and now that that has happened, the two countries are hoping to get money, and oil money is good for any economy. ben: in some regions, oil money has been more of a blessing and a curse, but could east africa really -- does it have the potential to sell itself as a hub and to get something positive out of this? edith: absolutely, yes. there is lots of oil in this

region. we are talking about kenya and uganda. let's not forget that south sudan is in this mix, as is sudan, because of the oil rich region, and asked saudi arabia accelerates its oil exploration, it is expected to be an oil-producing nation very soon, and if you are looking at the wider region, the congo, for example, the african republic, and you can see the potential, and we are being told that in uganda, for example, the reserves will be up to 6.5 billion barrels, and kenya is expected to be producing one billion barrels, so no small amount there. ben: what about the challenges? edith: the challenges are huge, and what also is not free is the pipeline. it will cost an estimated $4 billion u.s., and there is a commitment from the world bank of 540 million dollars u.s., and that is great, but they are

looking at private investors, and the governments have yet to say how they are going to finance this project, and then there is the issue in the north part of kenya, where this is susceptible to cattle rustling, which often leads to death, and there are a lot of kidnappings from the al-shabaab, so it is difficult to see how this will play out. ben: nothing is free in life, s it? let's get the view from wall street. good to see you. are traders looking at this big project on other side of the world and thinking, hmm, we had better watch out for the africans? jose: yes, ben, that is what they are thinking. they are not worried about it, because according to some estimates, it will not be ready

until 2020, and they point out that oil prices have derailed less challenging projects, and this has a variety of risks. meanwhile, the u.s. is starting to allow limited oil expert -- exports which could also help with inventories area -- with inventories. ben: big u.s. is not allowed to export its oil generally, and certainly, that is going to have an effect on consumers. jose: that is the key as to why congress is not in favor of lifting the and on oil imports, and they have warned that this could lead to higher gasoline prices for consumers, the benefit of lifting this ban in terms of u.s. jobs and the continuation, especially, of the shale revolution in the u.s. affects prices for consumers. ben: jose, thank you very much

for the analysis from new york. and i am back at my business desk, sarah. back to you. sarah: we will see you next time. we are going to head to sports, and there is the latest candidate to throw his name into the hat to replace sepp blatter, and the heir to the industrial empire says he would be a reformer and clean up the sport's governing body. reporter: he chose france, the birthplace of fifa, to declare his candidacy and to also smear the favorite. he accused him to being too close to sepp blatter, and he has been a fifa executive since 2002. >> how come he blames blatter

and claims blatter is the enemy. this is not the institution, and i think it is good for the other not to be a candidate this time. reporter: this comes days after an endorsement that was made to garner support across the region, if that's -- except for the south korean, who has pledged to take fifa in another direction in one go. >> if elected, i can change fifa in four years. this is my place for all of the football fans in the world. reporter: if elected, he would be the first asia president to head fifa.

sarah: it will be a fight for that top spot at fifa. and a were miter of our top stories, those killed and injured in a long blast in the thai capital of tank all, a blast -- of bangkok, a blast set off on the street. the attack has shocked the country. you are watching dw news from berlin. we are coming up on the top of the hour. thank you for watching us. i am sarah kelly. u.k. get more on our website. i would -- you can get more on our website. i will see you next time.

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christopher: a very warm welcome to "focus on europe," bringing you the human stories behind the european headlines. my name's christopher springate. here's what we have for you this week. the designer drugs sweeping through poland. the controversial whale hunt in the faroe islands. and the forgotten conflict in nagorno-karabakh. teenagers call them "legal highs" -- substances that aren't banned but nevertheless leave them intoxicated. particularly dangerous are so-called designer drugs, designed to imitate the effects of illegal drugs, using ingredients that remain legal.