New fire exchanges in the morning of Thursday, July 24 at the border between the armies of Cambodia and Thailand, said the Ministry of Defense Cambodia and the Thai army.
The two countries have mutually accused having opened fire first. The incident took place near the old temples, in the Thai province of Surin (Northeast) and that of the Cambodian of Oddar Meanchey (Northwest).
The Thai army also accused Cambodia of having launched rockets against their territory that, according to her, wounded three civilians. She denounced a “attack directed against civilians” by the Cambodian forces, saying that two BM-21 rockets had affected a community in the Kap Choang district of the province of Surin (southeast).
“Around 8:20 am (01:20 GMT), the Cambodian forces opened towards the fire towards the eastern flank of the Prasat Ta Temple Muen Thom, about 200 meters from the Thai base,” said the Thai army in a statement.
Thai people called out of Cambodia
Thailand also accused Cambodia of having used a drone on the dispute, around 07:35 (00:00 GMT).
“The Thai army has violated the territorial integrity of Cambodia by launching an armed attack against parked Cambodian forces,” said Maly Scheata, spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Defense.
“As a response, the Cambodian armed forces have exercised their legitimate right to self -defense, in full compliance with international law, to repel the Thai incursion in the Thai incursion,” he continued.
Thailand’s embassy at Phnom Penh asked all its nationals in Cambodia to leave the country, after exchanges at the border. All Thai people must be “as soon as possible” of Cambodia, except the imperative reason to stay, the Embassy on Facebook wrote.
The special Cambodian envoy expelled
The day before, Bangkok remembered his ambassador to his place in Phnom Penh and expelled that Cambodian from his territory, after a Thai soldier lost a leg while walking on a mine on the border.
Thai interim prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai said that an investigation by the Thai army had revealed evidence that Cambodia had raised new mines in the disputed area.
In total, five members of a Thai military patrol were injured by a mine on Wednesday afternoon in the Nam Yen district, in the province of Ubon Ratchathani, in the northeast of the country, according to the Thai army.
In response to the incident on Wednesday, the Thai government has accepted an army proposal to close several border posts, he said in a statement.
Last week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet announced the establishment of the mandatory military service in 2026, stating that tensions with Thailand justified this measure, and that the defense budget could also be increased.
The most serious crisis for 15 years
Thai interim prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai said Thursday that “the situation required prudent management” and “acting according to international law.” “We will do our best to protect our sovereignty,” he said.
The two kingdoms of Southeast Asia have long opposed the design of their common border, defined in the time of French Indochina, but the current crisis has been more serious in almost 15 years.
The death of a Khmer soldier after the exchange of fire in the middle of the night, at the end of May, in another disputed area of the border, set the powders between Bangkok and Phnom Penh, which drastically reduced their economic and diplomatic exchanges.
Cambodia has reduced diplomatic relations with his neighbor to “lower level,” said Cambodia AKP’s information agency this Thursday.
Tensions have led Cambodia to suspend imports of certain Thai products, and Thailand to restrict trips to the crossing points to the border.
The most violent modern episode linked to the border dates back to the clashes that broke around the Preah Vihear temple between 2008 and 2011, which left at least 28 dead and caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.
Source: BFM TV
