Thailand launches fighter jets as clashes erupt with Cambodia over disputed border
From CNN’s Helen Regan and Kocha Olarn
Prasat Ta Muen Thom
Thailand has deployed fighter jets against Cambodian military targets along their disputed border, in a dramatic escalation of tensions that threatens to erupt into a broader conflict.
The attack comes a day after a Thai soldier lost his leg in a landmine explosion, an incident that saw relations between the two Southeast Asian neighbors collapse to their lowest level in years.
Thailand’s 2nd regional military command in the northeast said on Facebook that F-16 fighter jets had been deployed. It also claimed to have “destroyed” two Cambodian regional military headquarters.
Thailand’s Deputy Army spokesperson Col. Richa Suksuwanont said the airstrikes were aimed only at military targets.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Cambodian side.
Armed clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces had broken out along the disputed border earlier on Thursday, according to military officials, wounding civilians and prompting the evacuation of residents in Thailand.
Before jets were launched, armed clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces broke out
From CNN’s Helen Regan and Kocha Olarn
Hours before Thailand deployed F-16 fighter jets against Cambodian military targets, armed clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces broke out along the border on Thursday, according to military officials.
They began early morning when Thailand’s military said Cambodian troops fired at a Thai army base in an area near the ancient Ta Muen Thom Temple – which lies in disputed territory in the south of Thailand’s Surin province and in Cambodia’s northwest. It said Cambodia had deployed an unmanned drone in front of the temple before sending troops in with weapons.
It also accused Cambodian troops of firing heavy weapons into a civilian area in the nearby Kap Choeng district, in Surin province.
“The attack injured three civilians. Thai authorities have promptly evacuated residents from the area to ensure the safety of lives and property,” the military said in a statement.
A Cambodian Defense Ministry spokesperson said their troops had acted in self-defense after an unprovoked incursion from Thai soldiers.
“Cambodian forces acted strictly within the bounds of self-defence, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity,” Lieutenant General Maly Socheata said.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a post on Facebook that Thailand attacked army positions at two temple sites in its Oddar Meanchey province, as well as in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province and Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province.
“Cambodia has always maintained a position of peaceful resolution of problems, but in this case, we have no choice but to respond with armed force against armed aggression,” said the Prime Minister.
Hun Manet also called on Cambodian citizens to remain calm.
At least two Thai soldiers were injured on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing a Thai army official.
Two hospitals in Thailand’s Surin province near the site of the clash have begun evacuating patients, according to Thailand’s ministry of public health.