Thailand launched airstrikes Monday along its border with Cambodia as both governments traded accusations over a fresh outbreak of fighting that has left four Cambodian civilians and one Thai soldier dead.
Thailand’s Second Army Region said roughly 35,000 residents have been evacuated from front-line areas as clashes intensified.
The two countries fought a five-day battle this summer that killed 43 people and forced about 300,000 to flee before a truce was reached.
But tensions resurfaced last month when Thailand suspended a U.S.-backed follow-up agreement to de-escalate hostilities, citing a land mine explosion that injured several Thai soldiers.
Since then, officials on both sides have reported scattered skirmishes along the disputed frontier – flare-ups that reignited Sunday and spilled into Monday.
Cambodia’s information minister, Neth Pheaktra, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “at least four Cambodian civilians were killed in the Thai attacks” on Monday, including a woman who died when a shell hit Preah Vihear province.
The three others were killed by shelling in Oddar Meanchey, and more than 10 civilians were wounded, Neth Pheaktra said.
A Cambodian journalist was wounded by shrapnel from a Thai rocket in Oddar Meanchey, he added.
The fresh fighting has sent thousands of civilians in both countries fleeing their homes.
“The village head told us to evacuate, and given what happened in July, I complied immediately,” said farmer Pannarat Woratham, who lives just a few kilometers from the border in Thailand’s Surin province and evacuated Sunday afternoon to a temple sheltering the displaced.
It was the second time the 59-year-old had fled since late July, when open combat was waged with fighter jets, missile strikes and ground troops, killing both civilians and soldiers.
“Of course, many of us thought the conflict was finally over. It shouldn’t have happened again like this,” Pannarat told AFP.
Neth Pheaktra said at least 1,157 families had evacuated to safety in Oddar Meanchey alone.
The conflict centers on a century-old dispute over borders mapped during France’s colonial rule in the region, with both sides claiming several boundary temples.
Both sides reported a brief skirmish Sunday, which Thailand’s military said left two soldiers wounded.
But the fighting escalated early Monday.
Thai army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told reporters Monday that one soldier was killed and eight were wounded in attacks by Cambodian troops near the border.
Thailand launched airstrikes against its neighbor in self-defense, he said.
“The Thai air power is being used only against Cambodian military targets, which allows damage to be contained and halts Cambodia’s supporting fire that caused Thai casualties,” Winthai said at a press conference.
“The airstrikes are highly precise and aimed solely at military objectives along the clash line, with no impact on civilians.”
Cambodia’s Defense Ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata, however, said Thai forces attacked Cambodian troops in Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey early Monday, accusing Thailand of “firing multiple shots with tanks at Tamone Thom temple” and other areas near Preah Vihear temple.
She said Cambodia did not retaliate.
Maly Socheata later told reporters that the Thai military attacked Cambodian forces in Preah Vihear with an F-16 at around 9 a.m.
A soldier in the province said Monday morning that Thai forces were firing shells across the border into Cambodia. He declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Met Measpheakdey, a spokesman for the Oddar Meanchey provincial administration, said gunfire was reported in the areas of the centuries-old Tamone Thom and Ta Krabei temples.
The Thai army accused Cambodian forces of firing BM-21 rockets toward civilian areas in Buri Ram province, with no casualties reported.
The U.S., China and Malaysia, as chair of the regional bloc ASEAN, brokered the cessation of fighting in July.
In October, President Donald Trump co-signed a follow-on joint declaration, touting new trade deals with Thailand and Cambodia after they agreed to prolong their cease-fire.
But Thailand suspended the agreement the following month, and the two sides traded accusations of renewed clashes in which Cambodia said a civilian was killed.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim urged both sides Monday to halt the fighting and use diplomacy.
“Our region cannot afford to see long-standing disputes slip into cycles of confrontation,” Anwar said in a statement.
Asked about Trump’s intervention and Anwar’s call for restraint, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters in Bangkok that no one should tell his country to “exercise restraint or to stop – we’re long past that point.”
“If you want things to stop, tell the aggressor to stop,” he said.
