Evacuated Thai residents gather at a temporary shelter after clashes along the Thailand-Cambodia border in Buriram province on December 8. Thailand launched air strikes on its neighbour Cambodia, the Thai army said, with the two sides trading blame for the latest eruption of fighting on their disputed border, which killed a Thai soldier. Photo / Sarot Meksophawannakul, Thai News Pix, AFP
Evacuated Thai residents gather at a temporary shelter after clashes along the Thailand-Cambodia border in Buriram province on December 8. Thailand launched air strikes on its neighbour Cambodia, the Thai army said, with the two sides trading blame for the latest eruption of fighting on their disputed border, which killed a Thai soldier. Photo / Sarot Meksophawannakul, Thai News Pix, AFP
Thailand launched airstrikes on its neighbour Cambodia, with both sides trading blame for renewed fighting on their disputed border that has killed four Cambodian civilians and a Thai soldier.
Around 35,000 people in Thailand have been evacuated from border areas, the country’s Second Army Region said.
Five days of combatthis summer between the two Southeast Asian nations killed 43 people and displaced around 300,000 on both sides of the border before a truce took effect.
But last month Thailand paused a follow-on deal backed by US President Donald Trump to wind down hostilities, saying a landmine blast at the border had wounded several soldiers.
Cambodian and Thai officials have since reported sporadic skirmishes along their frontier, which reignited on Sunday and Monday.
Cambodia’s Information Minister Neth Pheaktra told AFP at least four Cambodian civilians were killed by Thai shelling on Monday in the border provinces of Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey.
Around 10 other civilians were wounded, including a Cambodian journalist who was hit by shrapnel from a Thai rocket, Neth Pheaktra said.
The Thai army said one soldier was killed and 18 others were wounded since fresh fighting began on Sunday.
On Monday the European Union called on the two countries to “exercise maximum restraint” and dial down hostilities, remarks echoed by the United Nations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both parties “to avoid further escalation” and “recommit to the ceasefire” brokered earlier this year, his spokesman said.
Washington, through its embassy in Bangkok, urged Americans to avoid all travel within 50km of the Thai-Cambodia border “because of active hostilities and the unpredictable security situation”.
Farmer Pannarat Woratham, who lives a few kilometres from the border in Thailand’s Surin province, said she fled on Sunday afternoon to a temple sheltering the displaced.
It was the second time the 59-year-old had evacuated since late July, when open combat was waged with fighter jets, missile strikes and ground troops, killing both civilians and soldiers.
“Of course many of us thought the conflict was finally over. It shouldn’t have happened again like this,” Pannarat told AFP.
Across the border, Cambodian Hul Malis said the Thai military entered the border village of Prey Chan on Monday afternoon just 20 minutes after she fled.
“They came in with tanks,” Hul Malis said other residents told her.
“I am so scared and I am running away.”
Prey Chan was the site of a stand-off in September between several hundred Cambodian demonstrators and Thai forces, who fired rubber bullets and tear gas at them. Both countries claim the area as their own territory.
Pheaktra told reporters at least 1157 families had evacuated to safety in Oddar Meanchey alone.
The conflict centres on a century-old disagreement over borders mapped during France’s colonial rule in the region, with both sides claiming a smattering of boundary temples.
This local resident was among the wounded after clashes along the Cambodia-Thailand border in Oddar Meanchey province. Thailand launched air strikes on its neighbour Cambodia on December 8, the Thai army said, with the sides trading blame for the latest eruption of fighting on their disputed border, which killed a Thai soldier. Photo / Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP)
‘Military objectives’
Both sides reported a brief skirmish on Sunday, which Thailand’s military had said left two soldiers wounded.
But the fighting escalated early on Monday.
Thai army spokesman Winthai Suvaree said it had launched airstrikes against Cambodia in self-defence.
“The Thai air power is being used only against Cambodian military targets” and has had “no impact on civilians”, Winthai told reporters.
But Cambodia’s defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata said Thai forces had attacked Cambodian troops in Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey early on Monday, and accused Thailand of “firing multiple shots with tanks” near centuries-old temples.
Maly Socheata later told reporters the Thai military attacked Cambodian forces in Preah Vihear with an F-16 jet.
She said Thailand’s military had not ceased their attack and expanded the battle. She maintained Cambodia had not retaliated.
The Thai army, meanwhile, has accused Cambodian forces of firing BM-21 rockets towards civilian areas in Buriram province, with no casualties reported.
The United States, China and Malaysia, as chair of the regional bloc Asean, brokered the cessation of fighting in July.
In October, Trump co-signed a follow-on joint declaration, touting new trade deals with Thailand and Cambodia after they agreed to prolong their ceasefire.
But Thailand suspended the agreement the following month, and the two sides then traded accusations of renewed clashes.
Asked about Trump’s intervention and a call by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for restraint and diplomacy, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters in Bangkok that no one should tell his country to stop.
“We’re long past that point,” he said. “If you want things to stop, tell the aggressor to stop.”
