Thailand and Cambodia have traded blame for renewed clashes along their disputed border and pledged to continue the fighting, as the death toll climbs in the latest outbreak of hostilities between the neighbours.
Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence said on Tuesday nine civilians had been killed and 20 injured since Monday, while the Thai military said two more deaths meant that three soldiers had been killed and 29 wounded on its side since clashes resumed.
Renewed fighting broke out on Sunday night in a skirmish in which one Thai soldier was killed, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes and shattering an uneasy peace that had held since five days of clashes in July.
That bout of fighting, involving the exchange of rockets and heavy artillery fire and fuelled by competing territorial claims along their border, resulted in at least 48 deaths on both sides and the temporary evacuation of more than 300,000 civilians before a ceasefire was brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and United States President Donald Trump.
Thailand, however, suspended the implementation of the ceasefire pact last month, following a landmine blast that maimed one of its soldiers.
Cambodia ‘forced to fight’
Cambodia’s powerful Senate President Hun Sen claimed in a statement on social media on Tuesday that the military had been refraining from firing at Thai forces the previous day, but had begun shooting back overnight.
He said targeting areas where Thai forces were advancing would allow Cambodia’s military to “weaken and destroy enemy forces through counterattacks”.
