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Thailand accused Cambodia of firing into civilian areas, prompting the evacuation of villages within range of Cambodian rockets. Cambodia, in turn, alleged that Thailand deployed cluster munitions—weapons banned in many countries due to their indiscriminate impact on civilians. Thailand has not yet responded to these claims.
The violence, which both nations blame the other for starting, erupted on Thursday. Thailand claims Cambodian military drones provoked the clash by conducting surveillance near the border, while Cambodia insists Thai soldiers violated an agreement by advancing on a Khmer-Hindu temple, a long-standing point of contention. The border dispute, rooted in boundaries drawn during the French colonial era, has fuelled sporadic violence for over a century, with tensions peaking in May after a Cambodian soldier’s death.
In Thailand’s Surin province, a sports complex has been converted into an evacuation centre, sheltering shaken residents, including children and elderly people. Some evacuees, who lived through the Cambodian Civil War in the 1980s, described the recent attacks as the worst they had ever experienced. Joi Phasuwan, from Phanom Dong Rak district, recounted fleeing with her grandchildren to safety.
Villages near the border lie deserted, with only a few men remaining to guard homes and livestock. At one village school, Thai soldiers were present but declined to be filmed. The men, huddled near a makeshift shelter of concrete pipes and sandbags, spoke of their fear as Cambodian rockets and artillery shook the area. Military lorries were the only vehicles seen on the otherwise empty roads.
The death toll includes 14 Thai civilians and one soldier, alongside at least one Cambodian civilian in Oddar Meanchey province. Global calls for peace have intensified, with the United States, China, Australia, the European Union, and France urging an immediate ceasefire. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, chair of ASEAN, offered to mediate, but Thailand’s foreign ministry insisted the conflict be resolved bilaterally, rejecting third-party involvement for now.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet appealed to the United Nations Security Council, which is set to meet on Friday, urging intervention to “stop Thailand’s aggression.” As the international community watches closely, life along the border remains paralysed by a dispute over ancient temples and small patches of land, with fears growing that the violence could escalate further.
