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Thailand recalls Cambodia ambassador after landmine injures soldier on border Thailand and Cambodia trade fire along disputed border after weeks of tensions
(about 13 hours later)
Thai foreign ministry says landmines along disputed border newly deployed as it downgrades diplomatic relations Fighting is latest development in deterioration of relations that has seen Thailand’s prime minister suspended from office over handling of dispute
Thailand has recalled its ambassador to Cambodia and will expel Cambodia’s ambassador, the ruling Pheu Thai party said on Wednesday after a landmine incident that injured a Thai soldier along the disputed border between the two countries. Fatal clashes have broken out between Thai and Cambodian troops along a disputed section of their border with both countries accusing the other of provocation, after weeks of simmering tensions between the Southeast-Asian neighbours.
The Thai foreign ministry has lodged a formal protest with Cambodia, saying the landmines found in the area were newly deployed and had not been encountered during previous patrols, the party said on social media. At least two Thai civilians were killed and two others injured by shelling from the Cambodian side on Thursday, according to a Thai district official, after clashes broke out near the Khmer Hindu temple, Ta Muen Thom, on Thursday morning.
Thailand has downgraded diplomatic relations with Cambodia, it said. The Thai military said Cambodian troops had opened fire near the temple, and deployed a surveillance drone before sending in troops with heavy weapons, including rocket launchers.
Cambodia’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its government spokesperson referred Reuters to the foreign ministry. Thailand’s foreign ministry said it had yet to be informed of the decision to recall the Thai envoy and the plan to expel Cambodia’s ambassador. Cambodia has denied the claims, with its ministry of national defence saying it was the Thai military that launched the first armed assault.
The government has also ordered the closure of all border checkpoints under the jurisdiction of Thailand’s Second Army, the Pheu Thai party said. “Cambodian forces acted strictly within the bounds of self-defense, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity,” the ministry said in a statement.
Thailand has deployed an F-16 fighter jet along the border in response, one of six being readied, the Thai military said on social media on Thursday.
Cambodia’s influential former premier Hun Sen – father of current prime minister Hun Manet – said that two Cambodian provinces had come under shelling from Thailand’s military. In a statement posted online, Hun Manet said “Cambodia has always taken a stand to solve problems peacefully, but in this case we have no choice but to respond with armed forces against armed aggression,”
Hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand which have continued to escalate in recent months, were initially ignited after a Cambodian soldier was killed in an armed confrontation in an area both countries claim as their own.
Commenting on Thursday’s clashes, Thailand’s acting premier, Phumtham Wechayachai, said the situation at Thailand’s border was “delicate”. “We have to be careful,” he told reporters. “We will follow international law.”
Thursday’s clash came 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.
Thailand has said the landmines had been placed in the area recently, claims that Cambodia describes as baseless. Cambodia has many landmines left over from its civil war decades ago, numbering in the millions according to de-mining groups.
The Thai government has also ordered the closure of all border checkpoints under the jurisdiction of Thailand’s Second Army, the ruling Pheu Thai party said.
“Tourists are strictly prohibited from entering these border areas,” it said.“Tourists are strictly prohibited from entering these border areas,” it said.
In the landmine incident on Wednesday, the soldier sustained injuries and lost his right leg, the party said. Many border checkpoints have already been closed by one side or the other or operated with restrictions.
Earlier, Thailand accused Cambodia of placing landmines on the Thai side of the disputed border area after three soldiers were injured, but Phnom Penh denied the claim and said the soldiers had veered off agreed routes and triggered a mine left behind from decades of war. Nationalist passions on both sides have further inflamed the situation, and Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was suspended from office on 1 July to be investigated for possible ethics violations over her handling of the border dispute.
Thai authorities said the soldiers were injured, with one losing a foot, by a landmine while on a patrol on 16 July on the Thai side of the disputed border area between Ubon Ratchathani and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province. The details of a phone call she held with Hun Sen in a bid to deescalate the conflict were leaked, with critics accusing her of betraying her country and kowtowing to Cambodia.
Cambodia’s foreign ministry denied that new mines had been planted, and said in a statement on Monday night that the Thai soldiers deviated from agreed patrol routes into Cambodian territory and into areas that contain unexploded landmines. Mounting tensions have been punctuated by a diplomatic tit-for-tat, with Cambodia banning Thai movies and TV shows, stopping the import of Thai fruits and vegetables and boycotting some of its neighbour’s international internet links and power supply. It also stopped importing fuel from Thailand.
The country is littered with landmines laid during decades of war. With Reuters and Associated Press