More than half a million people have fled homes in Thailand and Cambodia due to renewed border clashes, surpassing displacements from earlier fighting.
BANGKOK: More than 500,000 people have been evacuated in Thailand and Cambodia since a border conflict reignited.
The total surpasses the number displaced during similar deadly clashes earlier this year.
A Thai defence ministry spokesperson said over 400,000 people had been moved to safe shelters across seven provinces.
“Civilians have had to evacuate in large numbers due to what we assessed as an imminent threat to their safety,” spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri told reporters.
He added the aim was to prevent a recurrence of attacks on civilians suffered in July 2025.
In Cambodia, the defence ministry reported 101,229 people evacuated to shelters or relatives’ homes in five provinces as of Tuesday evening.
The neighbours dispute the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre frontier.
Competing claims to historic temples along the border have repeatedly spilled over into armed conflict.
This week’s clashes are the deadliest since five days of fighting in July that killed dozens.
That earlier conflict displaced around 300,000 people before a shaky truce was agreed following US intervention.
Both sides blame each other for instigating the renewed fighting.
Clashes expanded to five provinces in each country on Tuesday, according to an AFP tally of official accounts. – AFP
