Thailand-Cambodia border clash live: Thai army says airstrikes launched against Cambodian targets | Thailand
Key events
Cambodia’s defence ministry has condemned what it called Thailand’s “reckless and brutal military aggression” on Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The ministry added that Thai fighter jets had been deployed and dropped two bombs on a road, as cited by Reuters and reported earlier.
Thailand ‘closing border’ with Cambodia
Thailand is closing all border points with Cambodia, Reuters is quoting a Thai military official as saying.
Photographs are arriving over the news wires of Thais fleeing today’s clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops.
Cambodia’s defence ministry has confirmed Thai airstrikes on the country, saying Thailand used fighter jets to drop two bombs on a road.
Reuters also quotes the Cambodian defence ministry as accusing Thailand of violating an agreement with Cambodia and opening fire on the Cambodian army.
Cambodia’s defence ministry has not immediately responded to a Reuters request for confirmation of Thailand’s claim of airstrikes against Cambodian military targets.
The Thai army said an F-16 fighter jet was deployed against Cambodia’s military on Thursday as weeks of tension over a border dispute escalated into fighting.
The army said that of the six F-16s that Thailand had prepared to deploy along the disputed border, one of the fighter jets fired into Cambodia and destroyed a military target.
Both countries have accused each other of starting Thursday’s clash.
Thailand ‘launches airstrikes’ on Cambodian targets
The Thai army says it has launched airstrikes on two Cambodian military targets, news agencies are reporting.
“We have used air power against military targets as planned,” Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon told reporters.
Thailand’s 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, the AP reported.
Cambodia’s defence ministry said Thailand started the armed clash and Cambodia “acted strictly within the bounds of self-defence, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity”.
Cambodian prime minister Hun Manet has 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,” he said, quoted by the Associated Press. “But in this case, we have no choice but to respond with armed force against armed aggression.”
Both Thailand and Cambodia have accused each other of opening fire first in a contested border area on Thursday.
Photograph: AP/Agence Kampuchea Press
Further to the last post, Thailand’s second army region has said on social media that one F-16 has been deployed for action against Cambodia’s military along their border and the fighter jet is among six being readied, Reuters is reporting.
Thailand deploys F-16 fighters to border – military
Thailand’s military says it has deployed F-16 fighter jets against Cambodia in the border area, Reuters is reporting.
A Thai army official has been quoted by Reuters as saying the military is readying to deploy six F-16 fighter jets along the Cambodian border.
More on this when it comes to hand.
Two killed in Cambodian shelling, says Thai official
At least two Thai civilians have been killed and two others injured by the shelling from the Cambodian side on Thursday, a Thai district official told Reuters.
About 40,000 civilians from 86 villages in Thailand have been evacuated to safer locations, the district chief of Kabcheing in Surin province, Sutthirot Charoenthanasak, told the news agency.
Thai embassy urges nationals to leave Cambodia over border clashes
Agence France-Presse is reporting that Thailand’s embassy has urged nationals to leave Cambodia over the border clashes.
It comes after Thailand recalled its ambassador to Cambodia on Wednesday and said it would expel Cambodia’s envoy in Bangkok, after a second Thai soldier in the space of a week lost a limb to a landmine in the disputed area.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of clashes on the Thai-Cambodia border.
Thai and Cambodian soldiers have fired at each other in a contested border area on Thursday, after the nations downgraded their diplomatic relations in a rapidly escalating dispute.
It was not immediately clear if the clash was ongoing. A livestream video from Thailand’s side showed people running from their homes and hiding in a concrete bunker Thursday morning as explosions sounded periodically.
The clash happened in an area where the ancient Prasat Ta Muen Thom temple stands along the border of Thailand’s Surin province and Cambodia Oddar Meanchey province.
You can read our full report here:
