Thai and Cambodian soldiers fired at each other in contested border area Thursday after the nations downgraded their diplomatic relations in a rapidly escalating dispute.
It was not immediately clear if the clash was ongoing. A livestream video from Thailand’s side showed people running from their homes and hiding in a concrete bunker Thursday morning as explosions sounded periodically.
The clash happened in an area where the ancient Prasat Ta Muen Thom temple stands along the border of Thailand’s Surin province and Cambodia Oddar Meanchey province.
Both Thailand and Cambodia accused each other of opening fire first.
Earlier Thursday, Cambodia said it was downgrading diplomatic relations with Thailand to their lowest level, expelling the Thai ambassador and recalling all Cambodian staff from its embassy in Bangkok. That was in response to Thailand closing its northeastern border crossings with Cambodia, withdrawing its ambassador and expelling the Cambodian ambassador Wednesday to protest a land mine blast that wounded five Thai soldiers.
Relations between the Southeast Asian neighbors have deteriorated sharply since May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in an armed confrontation in another of the several small patches of land both countries claim as their own territory.
The Thai army said of Thursday’s clash that its forces heard an unmanned aerial vehicle before seeing six armed Cambodian soldiers moving closer to Thailand’s station. It said Thai soldiers tried to shout at them to defuse the situation but the Cambodian side started to open fire.
Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said Thailand started the armed clash and Cambodia “acted strictly within the bounds of self-defense, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity.”
On Wednesday, a land mine blast near the border wounded five Thai soldiers, one of whom lost a leg.
A week earlier, a land mine in a different contested area exploded and wounded three Thai soldiers when one of them stepped on it and lost a foot.
Thai authorities have alleged the mines were newly laid along paths that by mutual agreement were supposed to be safe. They said the mines were Russian-made and not of a type employed by Thailand’s military. Cambodia rejected Thailand’s account as “baseless accusations,” pointing out that many unexploded mines and other ordnance are a legacy of 20th century wars and unrest.
Nationalist passions on both sides have further inflamed the situation, and Thailand’s prime minister was suspended from office on July 1 to be investigated for possible ethics violations over her handling of the border dispute.
Associated Press writer Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia contributed to this report.
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Thai and Cambodia soldiers fire at each other in disputed border area
