BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH –
Thai Army 2nd Lt. Baramee Sricha was on a patrol near a disputed stretch of the border between Thailand and Cambodia on July 16, when a member of his team stepped on a landmine that detonated, severing his ankle.
The incident was a catalyst to five days of hostilities between the neighbors, which ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. It also sparked a diplomatic row over PMN-2s — a Soviet-origin anti-personnel mine that litters parts of Cambodia and which Phnom Penh and Bangkok have pledged by treaty not to use.
Thailand accuses Cambodia of laying the mines along parts of their joint frontier and says PMN-2s have maimed at least six Thai soldiers since July, including the member of Baramee’s patrol.
Landmines that sparked Thai-Cambodia clash were likely newly laid, experts say
