Thailand and Cambodia exchange fire along disputed border as diplomatic crisis deepens
Thailand and Cambodia exchanged fire along their disputed border on Thursday as a volatile territorial dispute spiralled into a full-blown diplomatic crisis.
The clash came just a day after a landmine blast maimed five Thai soldiers, with Bangkok blaming the neighbouring country for laying new Russian-made explosives in violation of a key international treaty.
The exchange of fire occurred at 8.20am local time near Prasat Ta Muen Thom, an ancient Khmer-Hindu temple close to the heavily patrolled border, the Thai army said, accusing the rival military of using rocket launchers and several other weapons systems.
The firing reportedly left two Thai civilians dead and two soldiers wounded.
Moments before the firing began, a Cambodian drone was seen flying in the area and six heavily armed soldiers approached a Thai military base, the Thai army claimed.
In the wake of the clash, the Second Army said on social media, Thailand deployed an F-16 fighter jet against the Cambodian forces.
The Cambodian defence ministry disputed the Thai army’s claims. It accused the Thai army of firing first and claimed that its soldiers were “responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity”.
The clash took place after Thailand expelled the Cambodian envoy in Bangkok and recalled its own ambassador late on Wednesday.
Phnom Penh retaliated by reducing diplomatic ties to their lowest level, withdrawing all staff from its Bangkok embassy and ordering Thai diplomats out of the country, escalating a standoff already inflamed by nationalist outrage, trade boycotts and disputed claims over fatal blasts in the contested frontier zone.
Thailand’s acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the situation along the border was “delicate”. “We have to be careful,” he told reporters. “We will follow international law.”
Cambodia’s influential former premier Hun Sen, father of incumbent prime minister Hun Manet, claimed two provinces had come under shelling from the Thai military.
He called for calm and urged Cambodians to trust their government and armed forces in the tense times.
The prime minister said Cambodia had “always maintained a position of peaceful resolution of problems but, in this case, we have no choice but to respond with armed force against armed aggression”.
The Southeast Asian neighbours have contested sovereignty over several undemarcated places along the 817km land border for more than a century. The border was initially mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was under French colonial rule.
Thailand later contested the map, which was based on an agreement that the border would be demarcated along the natural watershed line between the two countries.
The immediate cause of renewed hostilities was an exchange of gunfire in a contested frontier zone on 28 May that resulted in the death of a Cambodian soldier. Both nations claimed they acted in self-defence but tensions quickly escalated.
Several border checkpoints had already been closed or were operating under heavy restrictions after the deadly clash on 28 May.
In the aftermath, Cambodia banned Thai films and television programmes, halted imports of fruits, vegetables and fuel from the neighbouring country, and cut access to some of Thailand’s international internet links and electricity supply.
