The Cambodian government accused Thailand yesterday of trying to provoke “full-scale armed hostilities” between the two neighbors after a cross-border gunfight.
Thai soldiers stationed in a disputed border area were engaged in a brief gun battle that wounded one Cambodian and two Thai troops on Friday several kilometers west of Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple.
Thai forces entered Cambodian territory and were the first to open fire, the Cambodian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Cambodia strongly protests against this deplorable and intentional armed provocation by Thai soldiers,” it said.
It warned that such a provocation “could lead to very grave consequences, including full-scale armed hostilities.”
Thai officials on Friday initially denied knowledge of the incident, but later said Cambodian troops had encroached on Thai territory and had been the first to fire.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said on Friday evening that the Thai troops had been patrolling in their own territory when they encountered the Cambodian soldiers.
“The Cambodian troops shot at the Thai troops first, wounding two soldiers. One Cambodian soldier was also wounded after the Thais responded,” he said.
Lieutenant General Wiboonsak Ngeepan, the regional army commander for northeastern Thailand, said that it was unclear if the Cambodians intruded intentionally or had strayed into Thailand, as “the area is dense forest.”
The Cambodian Foreign Ministry said its troops returned fire in self-defense after being attacked by Thai soldiers. The attack occurred 2km west of the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda near the Preah Vihear temple, it said.
The pagoda is where border tension between the two neighbors erupted on July 15 after UNESCO, the UN cultural agency, approved Cambodia’s application to have the 11th century temple named a World Heritage Site.
Friday’s clash was the most serious incident yet despite statements by both governments that they were committed to preventing violence.
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
POINTING FINGERS: The two countries have accused each other of firing first, with Bangkok accusing Phnom Penh of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday warned that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people “could develop into war,” as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis yesterday. A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported that one civilian — a 70-year-old man — had been killed and
‘OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE’: Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen are to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss EU-China relations and geopolitical challenges Top leaders from China and the EU are to hold a summit in Beijing this week, as the major economic powers seek to smooth over disputes ranging from trade to the Ukraine conflict. Beijing and Brussels have been gearing up to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, but a suite of squabbles over state subsidies, market access and wartime sanctions have dampened the festivities. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would visit on Thursday. The statement came after the EU
RSS