Thailand-Cambodia fighting spreads along contested border as civilian toll rises

Fighting between Cambodia and Thailand escalated along their contested border on Dec 9, as the South-east Asian neighbours both said they would not back down in defending their sovereignty.

With each side blaming the other for starting the Dec 8 renewed clashes, it was unclear how or if a fragile ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump in July could be salvaged.

Cambodia’s influential former leader Hun Sen said his country waited 24 hours to honour the ceasefire and allow for evacuations before launching counterattacks overnight against Thai forces.

“Cambodia needs peace, but Cambodia is compelled to counterattack to defend our territory,” he said in a Facebook post, saying strong bunkers and weapons gave Cambodian forces the advantage in defending against an “invading enemy”.

In Thailand, military officials said there were clashes in five border provinces, and a Navy-led operation in its Trat Province to expel Cambodian soldiers was expected to end soon.

They said Cambodia was using artillery, rocket launchers, and bomb-dropping drones to attack Thai forces.

“Thailand is determined to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and therefore military measures must be taken as necessary,” Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri told the media briefing where other military officials also spoke.

Cambodia’s Defence Ministry accused Thailand of “brutal and unlawful actions”, saying nine civilians were killed since Dec 8 and 20 seriously injured.

Thai officials said three soldiers had died in the fighting and 29 people had been injured.

Cambodian Prime ⁠Minister Hun Manet, Mr Hun Sen’s son, said late on Dec 8 that Thailand “must not use military force to attack civilian villages under the pretext of reclaiming its sovereignty”.

Both countries said they had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from border areas.

Thailand evacuated 438,000 civilians across five border provinces and authorities in Cambodia said hundreds of thousands of people had been moved to safety.

In Thailand’s Surin province, Ms Sutida Pusa, 30, who runs a small food shop, told AFP on Dec 8 that her young and elderly relatives were moved to an evacuation centre the day before, while others stayed behind to guard their property.

She has travelled back and forth between the temporary shelter and her house – located less than 20km from the border – to care for family members in both places.

“I wanted to see the situation first, as the sounds of fighting aren’t as loud as during the major clash on July 24,” she said.

“We never trust the situation.”

Tensions have simmered since Thailand in November suspended de-escalation measures that were agreed at a summit overseen by Mr Trump, after a Thai soldier was maimed by a landmine that Bangkok said Cambodia had recently laid.

The Dec 8 clashes were the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery in July, when at least 48 people were killed and 300,000 displaced, before Mr Trump intervened to broker a ceasefire.    

Tensions rose in May following the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a skirmish, which led to a major troop buildup at the border and escalated into diplomatic breakdowns and armed clashes.

Thailand has superior military capabilities, with armed forces that dwarf its neighbour in terms of personnel, budget and weaponry, and fighter jets that have been carrying out air strikes to support its ground forces.

Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at undemarcated points along their 817km land border, with disputes over ancient temples stirring nationalist fervour and occasional armed flare-ups, including a deadly week-long artillery exchange in 2011.

Source: Reuters 

--Agencies