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Cambodia accuses Thais of damaging world heritage site

Cambodia has lodged a complaint with the UN accusing Thai troops of damaging the ancient Preah Vihear temple during a border shootout earlier this month, an official said yesterday.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for Cambodia’s Council of Ministers, said that a staircase and a sculpture of the mythical Naga creature were damaged by rocket fire at the 11th-century Khmer ruins.

A complaint was filed with the UN cultural body UNESCO a few days after the firefight erupted on Oct. 15 near Preah Vihear, a World Heritage Site at the center of a long-running territorial dispute between the neighbors.

“Preah Vihear temple was intentionally damaged by Thai troops, because we found the remnants of grenades … near the temple and there were no Cambodian soldiers stationed nearby,” Phay Siphan said.

“The Preah Vihear authority has sent reports and pictures of the damage to UNESCO,” he said.

Three Cambodian soldiers and one Thai troop were killed in the clashes this month, which came as a months-long military standoff between the two countries erupted into a shootout on disputed land.

Tensions between Cambodia and Thailand flared in July when Preah Vihear was awarded UN World Heritage status, rekindling long-simmering tensions over ownership of land surrounding the temple.

Preah Vihear, with its elegant carvings and crumbling stone staircases, is the most important example of ancient Khmer architecture outside Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance is in Thailand’s northeastern Si Sa Ket Province.
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