Thailand launches air strikes on Cambodia after border clashes, with both sides trading blame and reporting casualties and evacuations
BANGKOK: Thailand launched air strikes on its neighbour Cambodia on Monday following a flare-up of fighting along their disputed border.
The Thai army said the strikes targeted military positions in response to an attack by Cambodian troops earlier in the day.
Thai army spokesman Winthai Suvaree said Cambodian forces fired on Thai troops in Ubon Ratchathani province, resulting in one Thai soldier killed and four wounded.
Winthai said Thailand had begun “using aircraft to strike military targets in several areas” to suppress further attacks.
Cambodia’s defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata accused Thai forces of launching the initial attack in the border provinces of Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey.
She claimed Thailand fired “multiple shots with tanks at Tamone Thom temple” and other areas near the historic Preah Vihear temple, adding that Cambodia did not retaliate.
A Cambodian provincial spokesman said gunfire was reported near the Tamone Thom and Ta Krabei temples, causing villagers to flee.
Thailand’s Second Army Region said around 35,000 people on the Thai side have been evacuated from border areas since the renewed fighting began.
The Thai army also accused Cambodian forces of firing BM-21 rockets towards civilian areas in Buri Ram province, though no casualties were reported.
Both sides reported a brief skirmish on Sunday, which Thailand said left two of its soldiers wounded.
This latest violence follows five days of intense clashes this summer that killed 43 people and displaced around 300,000 before a ceasefire was brokered.
That truce was facilitated by the United States, China, and Malaysia as chair of ASEAN.
In October, US President Donald Trump co-signed a joint declaration after Thailand and Cambodia agreed to prolong the ceasefire, alongside new trade deals.
Thailand suspended the deal last month following an alleged landmine blast that wounded several soldiers.
The two sides then traded accusations of renewed clashes, with Phnom Penh saying a civilian was killed.
The long-running dispute centres on a century-old border disagreement stemming from maps drawn during France’s colonial rule in the region. – AFP
