CALLS FOR CALM
The fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours – both popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists – over their shared 800km frontier.
Dozens of kilometres in several areas are contested and fighting broke out between 2008 and 2011, leaving at least 28 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
A UN court ruling in 2013 settled the matter for over a decade, but the current crisis erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a new clash.
Fighting on Thursday was focused on six locations, according to the Thai army, including around two ancient temples.
Ground troops backed up by tanks battled for control of territory, while Cambodia fired rockets and shells into Thailand and the Thais scrambled F-16 jets to hit military targets across the border.
Both sides blamed each other for firing first, while Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital hit by shells and a petrol station hit by at least one rocket.
Thursday’s clashes came hours after Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy after five members of a Thai military patrol were wounded by a landmine.
Cambodia downgraded ties to “the lowest level” on Thursday, pulling out all but one of its diplomats and expelling their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh.
At the request of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the deadly clashes, diplomatic sources told AFP.
The United States urged an “immediate” end to the conflict, while Cambodia’s former colonial ruler France made a similar call.
The EU and China – a close ally of Phnom Penh – said they were “deeply concerned” about the clashes, calling for dialogue.
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