Thai-Cambodia Clashes Along Disputed Border Kill 11

Thai and Cambodian soldiers clashed in multiple areas along their shared border Thursday in a major escalation of tensions that left at least 11 people dead, most of them civilians.

Preah Vihear has been a central part of the dispute between the two countries. I Photo: UNESCO World Heritage Centre

The two sides exchanged small arms fire, artillery, and rockets, and Thailand also conducted airstrikes, Jintamas Saksornchai and Sopheng Cheang reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Video footage showed Thai villagers fleeing their homes to seek shelter as the fighting broke out in the morning. Clashes were ongoing in at least six locations along the border, according to Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri.

The trigger for the confrontation was a landmine explosion last week that injured five Thai soldiers. In response, Bangkok withdrew its ambassador from Cambodia and expelled Cambodia’s envoy.

Thailand has since sealed all land border crossings and urged its citizens to leave Cambodia.

The two Southeast Asian neighbors have long-standing border disputes along their 800-kilometer (500-mile) frontier, which periodically erupt into brief confrontations that occasionally involve gunfire.

But relations have deteriorated sharply since a deadly skirmish in May that killed a Cambodian soldier. Thursday’s clashes were significantly larger in both scale and intensity than usual.