Bangkok: Three days of heavy fighting between Thailand and Cambodia on their disputed border have left 12 people dead, with another soldier killed on each side, officials said Monday.
Seven Cambodian and five Thai troops have died in
exchanges of artillery shells and small arms fire on their
jungle frontier.
A Thai army ranger was killed late yesterday, said a
Thai military spokesman in the border area, Colonel Prawit
Hookaew.
One more Cambodian soldier was also killed late yesterday, Cambodian field commander Suos Sothea told reporters.
"One of our soldiers was shot dead by a Thai sniper last night... during a patrol," he said.
He added that another Cambodian soldier had been
missing since Friday. "We have not yet located him."
Thai and Cambodian soldiers were locked in a tense
standoff at the border today but fighting appeared to have
abated after three days of cross-border shelling that began on
Friday.
It is the first serious outbreak of hostilities since
February when 10 people were killed in clashes near the
900-year-old disputed temple Preah Vihear, prompting the UN
Security Council to call for a lasting ceasefire.
The latest fighting has been taking place near a
different groups of temples about 150 kilometres away.
The two neighbours have fought a series of deadly
gunbattles in recent years in the jungle near ancient temples
along the border, which has never been fully demarcated,
partly because it is littered with landmines.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, April 25, 2011, 12:57