Travel warning for Thailand and Cambodia after gunfire and rockets leave at least 16 dead

Singapore: Cambodia has accused Thailand of damaging a World Heritage-listed temple and dropping illegal bombs in the most serious armed conflict between the two nations in more than a decade.

Simmering tensions erupted on Thursday at as many as eight locations along the border, where sovereignty has been disputed for more than a century. Small arms fire escalated to heavy shelling of military targets on both sides, and Thailand said Cambodian rockets had also hit civilian areas, including a hospital. Phnom Penh said a Thai F-16 jet had bombed a road near the famous Preah Vihear Temple.

A Cambodian military vehicle carrying a rocket launcher in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia, on Friday.Credit: AP

Clashes resumed on Friday, taking the death toll over two days of fighting to at least 16 and forcing the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from conflict areas.

Australia and Britain have issued travel advisories to avoid certain areas of Cambodia and Thailand, including the border regions of Buriram, Si Sa Ket, Surin, and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.

The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority claimed on Friday that “preliminary information” showed Thailand had dropped cluster bombs on unspecified sections of the disputed border, an allegation repeated by a Cambodian military spokesman.

“Cambodia is well aware of the devastating effects of cluster munitions, having suffered millions of them during the war,” the agency said.

Thailand is yet to comment on the claim, which has not been verified.

Thailand’s health ministry said a Thai soldier and at least 13 civilians, including children, were among the dead.

Cambodian authorities have acknowledged only one death. They say Duong Leap, 51, was killed on Thursday at another ancient temple, Ta Muen Thom, which is the epicentre of the latest tensions.

But families say there are more. Retired soldier Klep Yeuth told this masthead his older brother, Klep Reay, was killed alongside two other soldiers at Ta Muen Thom.

“They could not manage to get into the bunker on time,” Klep Yeuth said. “The bodies are still at Ta Muen Thom temple because the fighting still goes on from both sides.”

And in a video interview posted by CamboJA, one of Cambodia’s only independent media sites, a monk described Thai bombs destroying another smaller Buddhist temple, killing a civilian and injuring several others.

After the flare-up of hostilities on Thursday, the Thai army said clashes broke out again at multiple sites at about 4am (7am AEST) on Friday.

“Cambodian forces have conducted sustained bombardment utilising heavy weapons, field artillery, and BM-21 rocket systems … Thai forces have responded with appropriate supporting fire,” it said in a statement.

Thai residents who fled homes following clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers rest at an evacuation centre in Surin province, Thailand, on Friday.Credit: AP

It accused Cambodia of breaching the Geneva Conventions by firing heavy artillery into civilian areas.

While Thailand said it had targeted military sites, Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts accused it of damaging the Preah Vihear Temple, the scene of fierce fighting between 2008 and 2011 that claimed more than 30 Thai and Cambodian lives.

“The indiscriminate attack with the use of artillery shelling and aerial bombardment is a serious and unacceptable violation ... [of] international conventions on the protection of cultural heritage,” the ministry said.

Cambodians take refuge in Wat Tham Kambar in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia, on Friday.Credit: AP

Unconfirmed footage posted on social media overnight appeared to show Cambodian forces firing multiple rockets into Thailand. The Thai military said eight of the 13 civilian deaths occurred in Si Sa Ket province, where video footage showed a plume of thick black smoke rising from a petrol station.

The Cambodian government sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday afternoon requesting an urgent meeting to bring an end to the fighting.

The dispute over large swaths of the border is multi-generational and rooted in colonial-era demarcations, but the current crisis can be traced to a skirmish on May 28 that left Cambodian soldier Suon Roun dead.

Both sides blame the other for starting the fighting on May 28 and again this week.

A statement from Cambodia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday said Thailand’s “reckless and hostile” acts were a “blatant and serious violation of international law”.

Cambodia’s influential former prime minister, Hun Sen, said the army had “no choice but to fight back”.

Last week, three Thai soldiers were injured after stepping on landmines in one of the border regions. On Wednesday, five more were injured in a separate explosion.

The Thais said they were planted by the Cambodians – a violation of international rules. The Cambodians said the mines were leftovers from old wars.

Hours before the fighting began on Thursday, Thailand expelled Cambodia’s ambassador and recalled its own envoy. It has also called on its citizens in Cambodia to return home.

With AP, Reuters

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