Cambodian and Thai troops continue border fight

Cambodian and Thai troops continued with clashes in a border area disputed by the two countries for the fourth consecutive day on April 25.
Cambodian and Thai troops continued with clashes in a border area disputed by the two countries for the fourth consecutive day on April 25.

According to the Cambodian side, Thai troops fired artillery shells onto the disputed area in the vicinity of the 1,000 year-old temple Ta Mon Thom in Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province bordering Thailand's Surin province.

Meanwhile, sources from the Thai army were quoted as saying that the fighting broke out at 10 a.m and fires were heard at the disputed area.

At least 12 soldiers were killed and 23 others were injured on both sides during the first three days of their clashes in the vicinity of two ancient temples known as Ta Moan Thom and Ta Kwai to Cambodians and as Ta Moan and Ta Krakei to Thais.

According to the Cambodian Defence Ministry, Thai forces on April 24 fired more than 1,000 artillery shells onto the two above-said temples, with many landed as far as 20 km in Cambodia ’s territory, forcing up to 17,000 people to evacuate and destroying many houses and schools.

For its part, the Thai side said it has organised evacuations for 25,000 local people in villages in Surin provinces and 4,500 others in neighbouring province of Buri Ram . Clashes also forced Thailand to close border gates, costing it 15-20 million bath a day.

Tension broke at Cambodia-Thailand border on April 24 triggered deep concerns in the international community, especially ASEAN to which both are members.

Dealing with the emerging situation, Marty Natalegawa, Foreign Minister of Indonesia which currently holds Chair of ASEAN, planned to make trips to both Cambodia and Thailand on April 25 to discuss settlement of their border dispute, however, the trip has been postponed./.

See more