SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating Wednesday, with hundreds of thousands of displaced people in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters.
Associated Press reporters on the Thai side of the border heard outgoing fire.
The fighting triggered by longstanding territorial disputes followed a skirmish Sunday that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump that ended five days of combat in July.
Trump said he expects to speak by phone with the two leaders on Thursday, and expressed confidence that he would persuade the two sides, once again, to stop the fighting.
“I think I can get them to stop fighting. Who else can do that?” Trump said in an exchange with reporters, in which he also repeated his exaggerated claim of settling eight wars around the globe since his return to the White House. “Every once in a while, one will flame up again and I have to put out that little flame.”
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has vowed to continue to fight, and Cambodia’s powerful Senate President Hun Sen promised a fierce response.
Over a dozen people have been killed in the latest fighting. And about 400,000 people have been evacuated while fighting continues in four border provinces, Thai military spokesperson Rear Adm. Surasant Kongsiri said.
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Cambodia has evacuated more than 127,000 villagers, its defense ministry said.
Thailand’s military said casualties include five soldiers killed and dozens wounded. Cambodia said nine civilians died, including a baby, and 46 others were wounded.
In another sign of tensions, Cambodia withdrew its team from the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, which began Tuesday in Thailand. Wednesday’s announcement from the National Olympic committee of Cambodia said it regretted the action, but competitors’ families were concerned about safety.
Trump says he will return sides to peace
The previous ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed.
Trump late Tuesday said he would use his sway to end the renewed fighting.
“Tomorrow I’ll have to make a phone call,” Trump said.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters Wednesday that Washington had not contacted Thailand concerning a new ceasefire. He did not seem to rule out negotiations with Cambodia, but said he would not do so simply at the request of Trump, to whom he first wants to explain Thailand’s position.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier called on the two sides to live up to commitments made at an October meeting in Malaysia that reaffirmed the July ceasefire and called for removing heavy weapons from the border, coordinating the removal of land mines and other steps.
The ceasefire was fragile. Both nations carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued. Cambodia was unhappy that Thailand had not returned 18 soldiers it had captured when the ceasefire came into effect, and Thailand is angry that its soldiers patrolling the frontier have been wounded by land mines it alleges have been newly laid by Cambodia.
Cambodia pummels Thailand with rockets
Thailand has deployed jet fighters to carry out airstrikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles).
The Thai army’s northeastern regional command said that as of 3 p.m., Cambodian forces had fired 79 BM-21 salvos with 3,160 rockets, used artillery 122 times and employed bomb-dropping drones in 63 attacks on Wednesday. It said a hospital in Surin province was evacuated after rockets hit about 500 meters (yards) away.
The Thai army also said it destroyed a crane atop a hill held by Cambodia where the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple is located, because it allegedly held electronic and optical devices used for military command and control purposes.
The army also announced a 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in four districts of the eastern province of Sa Kaeo under a martial law order already in effect.
Worried evacuees
In a gymnasium in the northeastern Thai city of Surin, around 550 people were waiting out the combat.
Thidarat Homhual, a 37-year-old farmer, said her mind is on the family’s cows, ducks, four dogs and nine cats left to fend for themselves.
“We are behind the front line. We can live like this. It’s OK,” she said. “But I want it to be over.”
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Sopheng Cheang in Srei Snam, Cambodia, Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok and Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani and Lou Kesten in Washington contributed to this report.