Thailand\u2019s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai warned on Friday that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people \u201ccould develop into war\u201d, as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day.<\/p>\n
A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis later on Friday.<\/p>\n
A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported one civilian \u2014 a 70-year-old man \u2014 had been killed and five more wounded.<\/p>\n
More than 138,000 people have been evacuated from Thailand\u2019s border regions, its health ministry said, reporting 15 fatalities \u2014 14 civilians and a soldier \u2014 with a further 46 wounded, including 15 troops.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have tried to compromise as we are neighbours, but we have now instructed the Thai military to act immediately in case of urgency,\u201d said Wechayachai.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the situation escalates, it could develop into war, though for now, it remains limited to clashes,\u201d he told reporters in Bangkok.<\/p>\n
In the Cambodian town of Samraong, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border, AFP journalists saw families speeding away in vehicles with their children and belongings as gunfire erupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI live very close to the border. We are scared because they began shooting again at about 6am,\u201d Pro Bak, 41, told AFP.<\/p>\n
He was taking his wife and children to a Buddhist temple to seek refuge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know when we could return home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
AFP journalists also saw soldiers rushing to man rocket launchers and speeding off towards the frontier.<\/p>\n
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose country currently holds the chair of regional bloc ASEAN, said he held talks with both countries\u2019 leaders on Thursday and called for a ceasefire and dialogue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI welcome the positive signals and willingness shown by both Bangkok and Phnom Penh to consider this path forward,\u201d he said in a Facebook post late on Thursday.<\/p>\n
But despite Anwar\u2019s optimism, fighting resumed in three areas around 4am on Friday (2am PKT), the Thai army said.<\/p>\n
Cambodian forces carried out bombardments with heavy weapons, field artillery, and BM-21 rocket systems, the army said, and Thai troops responded \u201cwith appropriate supporting fire\u201d.<\/p>\n
Calls for calm
\nThe fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours \u2014 both popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists \u2014 over their shared 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Fighting on Thursday was focused on six locations, according to the Thai army, including around two ancient temples.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Cambodia downgraded ties to \u201cthe lowest level\u201d on Thursday, pulling out all but one of its diplomats and expelling their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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