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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Megan Howe

Entire border sealed off between Thailand and Cambodia as fighting between two nations erupts

Thailand has closed its entire border with Cambodia and urged all its nationals to leave the country, after violent clashes between the two nations left nine people dead.

Clashes began early on Thursday near the disputed Ta Moan Thom temple along the eastern border between Cambodia and Thailand, around 360 km from the Thai capital Bangkok.

"Artillery shell fell on people's homes," Sutthirot Charoenthanasak, district chief of Kabcheing in Surin province said, describing the firing by the Cambodian side.

It comes as the latest escalation between the countries that dates back more than a century when the two South East nations drew their border after France’s occupation of Cambodia ended.

Clashes have been sporadic over the years, but the latest tensions ramped up in May after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash.

At least nine civilians in Thailand have been killed and 14 people have been wounded, including a five-year-old child. Cambodia has not released any information on casualties or injuries.

Of the six F-16 fighter jets that Thailand readied to deploy along the disputed border, one of the aircraft fired into Cambodia and destroyed a military target, the Thai army said.

Both countries accused each other of starting the clash early on Thursday.

A Cambodian BM-21 multiple rocket launcher returns from the Cambodia-Thai border (AFP via Getty Images)

"We have used air power against military targets as planned," Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon told reporters.

Cambodia's defence ministry said the jets dropped two bombs on a road, and that it "strongly condemns the reckless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thailand against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia".

The skirmishes came after Thailand recalled its ambassador to Cambodia late on Wednesday and said it would expel Cambodia's envoy in Bangkok, after a second Thai soldier in the space of a week lost a limb to a landmine that Bangkok alleged had been laid recently in the disputed area.

Thailand's foreign ministry said Cambodian troops fired "heavy artillery" on a Thai military base on Thursday morning and also targeted civilian areas including a hospital, leading to civilian casualties.

"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," the ministry said in a statement.

Thai residents including children and the elderly ran to shelters built of concrete and fortified with sandbags and car tires in the Surin border province.

Cambodian soldiers reload the BM-21 multiple rocket launcher in Preah Vihear province (AFP via Getty Images)

"How many rounds have been fired? It's countless," an unidentified woman told the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (TPBS) while hiding in the shelter as gunfire and explosions were heard intermittently in the background.

Cambodia's foreign ministry said Thailand's air strikes were "unprovoked" and called on its neighbour to withdraw its forces and "refrain from any further provocative actions that could escalate the situation". For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817-km (508-mile) land border, which has led to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a weeklong exchange of artillery in 2011.

Tensions were reignited in May following the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a brief exchange of gunfire, which escalated into a full-blown diplomatic crisis and now has triggered armed clashes.

A man walks past the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Bangkok (AFP via Getty Images)

"Two people have died," he said, adding that district authorities had evacuated 40,000 civilians from 86 villages near the border to safer locations.

Thailand's military said Cambodia deployed a surveillance drone before sending troops with heavy weapons to an area near the temple.

Cambodian troops opened fire and two Thai soldiers were wounded, a Thai army spokesperson said, adding Cambodia had used multiple weapons, including rocket launchers.

A spokesperson for Cambodia's defence ministry, however, said there had been an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops and Cambodian forces had responded in self-defence.

Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the situation was delicate.

"We have to be careful," he told reporters. "We will follow international law."

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