Thailand has launched airstrikes along its disputed border with Cambodia, after both countries accused one another of breaching a ceasefire deal brokered by Donald Trump.
Thailand’s military said airstrikes were launched after one of its soldiers was killed and four others wounded in clashes along the countries’ tense border on Monday morning. Thailand’s air force said it was using aircraft to strike military targets in several areas, accusing Cambodia of mobilising heavy weaponry and repositioning combat units.
Cambodia’s ministry of national defence blamed Thailand for the latest escalation, saying Thai forces had launched an attack on Cambodian troops on Monday morning, adding that Cambodia had not retaliated, despite “provocative actions for many days”.
The fighting comes just six weeks after Trump oversaw the signing of a ceasefire agreement he brokered to end a five-day war that erupted in July. At least 48 people were killed in the conflict, and 300,000 forced to flee their homes.
Cambodia’s former prime minister Hun Sen, who remains hugely influential and is the father of the current leader, Hun Manet, urged his country’s forces to exercise restraint, saying Thailand was trying to “pull us into retaliation”.
“The red line for responding has already been set. I urge commanders at all levels to educate all officers and soldiers accordingly,” Hun Sen said in a Facebook post.
On Sunday, Thailand’s military ordered the evacuation of some villages across four provinces in its border areas, with about 35,000 now registered at shelters. Thai army spokesperson Winthai Suvaree said: “Thai soldiers were attacked with supporting fire weapons, resulting in one soldier killed and four wounded”.
Winthai also said Thailand had begun “using aircraft to strike military targets in several areas” to suppress attacks by Cambodian forces.
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim who helped broker the original ceasefire, urged Thailand and Cambodia to exercise restraint, warning that the fighting risked undoing the careful work that went into a ceasefire he helped to broker.
“We urge both sides to exercise maximum restraint, maintain open channels of communication and make full use of the mechanisms in place,” Anwar, the chair of the regional bloc Asean, said in a post online.
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