BANGKOK (AP) — Thai and Cambodian soldiers clashed in several areas along their border Thursday in a major escalation of their conflict that left at least 11 people dead, mostly civilians. The two sides fired small arms, artillery, and rockets, and Thailand also called in airstrikes.
Thai villagers could be seen on video fleeing their homes to seek shelter as the clashes began in the morning.
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Fighting was ongoing in at least six areas along the border, Thai Defense Ministry spokesman Surasant Kongsiri said. The trigger for the clashes was a mine explosion along the border on Wednesday that wounded five Thai soldiers and led Bangkok to withdraw its ambassador to Cambodia and expel Cambodia’s.
Thailand closed northeastern border crossings with Cambodia and said Wednesday it was withdrawing its ambassador and expelling the Cambodian ambassador to protest a land mine blast in which a Thai soldier lost a leg.
Thailand has also sealed all land border crossings while urging its citizens to leave Cambodia.
The Southeast Asian neighbors have long-standing border disputes that periodically flare along their 800-kilometer (500-mile) frontier and usually result in brief confrontations that sometimes involve exchanges of gunfire.
But relations have deteriorated sharply since a confrontation in May that killed a Cambodian soldier, and Thursday’s clashes were far bigger in scale and intensity than usual.
Each side accuses the other of starting the clashes
The first clash Thursday morning happened in an area near the ancient Ta Muen Thom temple along the border of Thailand’s Surin province and Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province.
The Thai army said its forces heard a drone before seeing six armed Cambodian soldiers moving closer to Thai military positions at the border. It said Thai soldiers tried to shout at them to defuse the situation, but the Cambodian side started to open fire.
Cambodia’s Defense Ministry, however, said Thailand deployed a drone first before opening fire, and that Cambodia “acted strictly within the bounds of self-defense, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity.”
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote to the current president of the United Nations Security Council asking for an urgent meeting “to stop Thailand’s aggression.”
The Thai army said it later launched airstrikes on military targets in Cambodia, while the Cambodian Defense Ministry said the Thai jets dropped bombs on a road near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, which has been the site of some of the most prominent and violent past conflicts between the countries.
Thailand’s Foreign Ministry accused Cambodia of attacking both military and nonmilitary sites in Thailand, including a hospital.
“The Royal Thai Government is prepared to intensify our self-defense measures if Cambodia persists in its armed attack and violations upon Thailand’s sovereignty in accordance with international law and principles,” said Nikorndej Balankura, the ministry’s spokesman.
Thailand’s acting Prime Minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, said 11 people have died, including 10 civilians and one soldier. Meanwhile, 28 have been injured, four of whom were soldiers and the rest civilians.
Cambodia released no details on deaths or injuries on its side.
Relations deteriorated even before the clashes
In an AP Explainer, correspondent Jerry Harmer reports Thailand says mines in a disputed border region were newly laid and of a type they don’t use, and blames Cambodia.
On Wednesday, Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Cambodia and expelled the Cambodian ambassador to protest the mine blast that wounded its soldiers.
Thai authorities alleged the mines were newly laid along paths that both sides had agreed were supposed to be safe. They said the mines were Russian-made and not of a type employed by Thailand’s military.
Cambodia rejected Thailand’s account as “baseless accusations,” pointing out that many unexploded mines and other ordnance are a legacy of 20th-century wars and unrest.
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Cambodia also downgraded diplomatic relations, recalling all Cambodian staff on Thursday from its embassy in Bangkok.
The border dispute in May that resulted in the death of a Cambodian soldier has had political fallout in Thailand. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra came under fire for being too fawning in a phone call with her Cambodian counterpart when she tried to defuse the situation. She has since been suspended from office pending an investigation into possible ethics violations over the matter.