Thai and Cambodian soldiers fired at each other in multiple contested border areas Thursday, injuring three civilians, after the nations downgraded their diplomatic relations in a rapidly escalating dispute.
A livestream video from the battle zone showed soldiers shooting at each other at various points and Thai civilians running for cover from the shelling. Thailand later said it had also used F-16 jets to strike targets in the neighboring country. Clashes appeared to be ongoing in several areas.
Clashes between Cambodian and Thai military forces
Cambodia and Thailand have a long-standing border dispute, but relations deteriorated significantly in May after a Cambodian soldier was killed in an armed clash over one of the disputed small tracts of land. The current escalation began on Wednesday, when five Thai soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion, and Bangkok closed its northeastern border crossings with Cambodia and expelled its ambassador from the country. Cambodia responded by downgrading diplomatic relations with Thailand, expelling the ambassador and withdrawing all its staff from the embassy.
Thailand claimed that the mine that injured the soldiers was made in Russia and was placed on roads that are supposed to be safe under agreements between the two countries. Cambodia, on the other hand, claimed that these were "baseless accusations," noting that there are many unexploded mines in the region and additional remains from wars that took place in the 20th century.
The first clash Thursday morning happened in an area where the ancient Prasat Ta Moan Thom temple stands along the border of Thailand's Surin province and Cambodia Oddar Meanchey province. Both Thailand and Cambodia accused each other of opening fire first.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet said Thailand attacked Cambodian army positions at Prasat Ta Moan Thom and Prasat Ta Krabey in Oddar Meanchey province and expanded to the area along Cambodia's Preah Vihear province and Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani province.
"Cambodia has always maintained a position of peaceful resolution of problems, but in this case, we have no choice but to respond with armed force against armed aggression," said the Prime Minister.
The Thai army said three civilians in Surin province were injured when Cambodia fired artillery shells into a residential area. It said residents in the area had been evacuated afterward.
Earlier Thursday, Cambodia said it was downgrading diplomatic relations with Thailand to their lowest level, expelling the Thai ambassador and recalling all Cambodian staff from its embassy in Bangkok in response to Thailand closing its northeastern border crossings with Cambodia, withdrawing its ambassador and expelling the Cambodian ambassador Wednesday to protest the land mine blast that wounded five Thai soldiers.
The Thai army said of Thursday's initial clash that its forces heard an unmanned aerial vehicle before seeing six armed Cambodian soldiers moving closer to Thailand's station. It said Thai soldiers tried to shout at them to defuse the situation but the Cambodian side started to open fire.
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The Thai embassy in Phnom Penh posted on Facebook that there were clashes at several border areas that could continue to escalate. It urged Thai nationals in Cambodia to leave the country if they could and advised others not to travel to Cambodia unless absolutely necessary.
On Wednesday, a land mine blast near the border wounded five Thai soldiers, one of whom lost a leg. A week earlier, a land mine in a different contested area exploded and wounded three Thai soldiers when one of them stepped on it and lost a foot.
Nationalist passions on both sides have further inflamed the situation, and Thailand's prime minister was suspended from office on July 1 to be investigated for possible ethics violations over her handling of the border dispute.
Border disputes are longstanding issues that have caused periodic tensions between the countries. The most prominent and violent conflicts have been around the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded sovereignty over the temple area to Cambodia and that became a major irritant in the relations of both countries.
Cambodia went back to the court in 2011, following several clashes between its army and Thai forces which killed about 20 people and displaced thousands. The court reaffirmed the ruling in 2013, a decision that still rattled Thailand.