KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): Two Malaysians are among the 19 killed in an explosion in central Bangkok yesterday, reports national news agency Bernama.

The deaths were confirmed by a Malaysian embassy official in the Thai capital.

A bomb planted at one of the Thai capital's most renowned shrines yesterday killed 19 people, including foreign tourists, and wounded scores in an attack the government called a bid to destroy the economy.

According to newswire Reuters, the bomb was planted at Erawan shrine, one of the most renowned places of worship in Bangkok, located at a major city-centre intersection.

Thai forces are fighting a low-level Muslim insurgency in the predominantly Buddhist country's south, but rebels have rarely launched attacks outside their heartland.

"The perpetrators intended to destroy the economy and tourism, because the incident occurred in the heart of the tourism district," Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told Reuters.

The Bangkok Post, citing the Royal Thai Police, put the death toll at 19, with 123 injured, as of 11.20pm local time (12.20am, Malaysian time). National police chief Somyot Poompanmuang told reporters the attack was unprecedented in Thailand.

"It was a pipe bomb," Somyot said. "It was placed inside the Erawan shrine."

The shrine, on a busy corner near top hotels, shopping centres, offices and a hospital, is a major attraction, especially for visitors from East Asia, including China. Many ordinary Thais also worship there.

The government would set up a "war room" to coordinate the response to the blast, the Nation television channel quoted Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha as saying.

Two people from China and one from the Philippines were among the dead, a tourist police officer said. Media said most of the wounded were from China and Taiwan.

"It was like a meat market," said Marko Cunningham, a New Zealand paramedic working with a Bangkok ambulance service, who said the blast had left a two-metre-wide crater.

"There were bodies everywhere. Some were shredded. There were legs where heads were supposed to be. It was horrific," Cunningham said, adding that people several hundred metres away had been injured.