Thai jets strike a building in Cambodia’s Poipet casino hub, damaging property and injuring civilians amid renewed border clashes displacing 800,000.
POIPET: Thailand bombed a building in a Cambodian casino town and major border crossing on Thursday as international pressure mounted to halt renewed fighting.
Cambodia’s interior ministry said Thai fighter jets dropped three bombs in an area of Poipet city, a bustling casino hub popular with Thai gamblers.
The attack damaged a warehouse and other property, leaving two civilians with minor injuries.
Thai air force spokesman Jackkrit Thammavichai told reporters the strike destroyed a “logistics centre” used to store rockets.
“These are facilities that have been used for military purposes,” he said.
The renewed fighting this month has killed at least 21 people in Thailand and 18 in Cambodia, while displacing more than 800,000, officials said.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre border and ancient temple ruins on the frontier.
Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting and traded accusations of attacks on civilians.
Thailand said on Tuesday that between 5,000 and 6,000 Thai nationals remained stranded in Poipet after Cambodia closed its land border crossings.
Cambodia’s interior ministry said the border closures were a “necessary measure” to reduce risks to civilians, adding that air travel remained an option.
At least four casinos in Cambodia have been damaged by Thai strikes, the ministry said this week.
Five days of fighting in July killed dozens before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and Malaysia, which was later broken.
US President Donald Trump claimed last week that the two countries had agreed to a new ceasefire.
Bangkok denied any truce had been agreed, and fighting with artillery, tanks, drones and jets has continued daily.
China said it was sending its special envoy for Asian affairs to Cambodia and Thailand on Thursday for a “shuttle-diplomacy trip”.
“Through its own way, China has been working actively for deescalation,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said.
Foreign ministers from ASEAN nations are due to meet on Monday in Malaysia for emergency talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution.
“Our duty is to present the facts but more important is to press upon them that it is imperative for them to secure peace,” Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told journalists.
“We are appealing to them to immediately stop this frontline offensive and if possible, an immediate ceasefire,” Anwar said, adding he was “cautiously optimistic” about the talks.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she had spoken with the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand, offering the bloc’s support for ceasefire monitoring with satellite imagery.
“The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia must not be allowed to spiral further. That’s why the ceasefire needs to be immediately restored,” Kallas said. – AFP
