Thailand launches air strikes amid new border clashes with Cambodia

In short:

(ABC – Australia) Fighting has broken out once again on the Thai-Cambodian border, with both sides accusing each other of breaching a ceasefire agreement signed after the five-day war in July.

Thailand launched air strikes after a Thai soldier was killed and four wounded in fresh clashes in the easternmost province of Ubon Ratchathani, the Thai military said.

The Cambodian side said Thailand had launched dawn attacks and that Cambodian troops had not retaliated. 

Thailand has launched air strikes along its disputed border with Cambodia, after both countries accused one another of breaching a ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump.

At least one Thai soldier had been killed and four wounded in the fresh clashes that broke out around two areas in the easternmost province of Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand’s military said in a statement, after its troops came under Cambodian fire.

“The Thai side has now begun using aircraft to strike military targets in several areas,” the statement said.

Cambodia’s defence ministry said in a statement that the Thai military had launched dawn attacks on its forces at two locations, following days of provocative actions, and added that Cambodian troops had not retaliated.

Thailand’s army said Cambodia’s military had fired BM-21 rockets towards Thai civilian areas, adding there were no reports of casualties.

Cambodia’s influential former prime minister, Hun Sen, urged Cambodian forces to exercise restraint against what he called aggression by Thailand’s military, which he said was trying to provoke a retaliatory response.

“The red line for responding has already been set. I urge commanders at all levels to educate all officers and soldiers accordingly,” Hun Sen, the longtime former leader and father of current premier Hun Manet, said in a Facebook post.

Peace agreement ended previous fighting

The border dispute erupted into a five-day war in July, before a ceasefire deal brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Mr Trump.

Phnom Penh has accused Thai troops of killing a civilian at the border, just days after a peace deal between the two countries was paused by Thailand.

The US president also witnessed the signing of an expanded peace agreement between the two countries in Kuala Lumpur in October.

At least 48 people were killed and an estimated 300,000 temporarily displaced during the July clashes, with the neighbours exchanging rockets and heavy artillery fire.

But following a landmine blast last month that maimed one of its soldiers, Thailand said it was halting the implementation of the ceasefire pact with Cambodia.

In Thailand, more than 385,000 civilians across four border districts are being evacuated, with more than 35,000 already housed in temporary shelters, the Thai military said.

For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at un-demarcated points along their 817-kilometre land border, first mapped in 1907 by France when it ruled Cambodia as a colony.

Simmering tension has occasionally exploded into skirmishes, such as a week-long artillery exchange in 2011, despite attempts to peacefully resolve overlapping claims.

Reuters