Thailand Strikes Civilian Locations Along Cambodian Border As Clashes Reignite | World News

Thailand-Cambodia conflict

Tensions along the Thailand–Cambodia border escalated on Saturday after Thai forces struck several civilian locations, including schools, in fresh clashes. According to Cambodian authorities, Thai forces fired heavy artillery and deployed F-16 fighter jets to carry out bombing missions in border areas.

Cambodia accused Thailand of continued armed aggression targeting civilian infrastructure. It said that the Thai military destroyed the O’Chik bridge, located along the border between Siem Reap province and Oddar Meanchey province, on Friday night, The Phnom Penh Post reported.

Thai forces further escalated the attack and carried out airstrikes on commercial buildings and a primary school in the Thma Da area of Pursat province, as per the report.

Meanwhile, Thai media reported that its Marines have stormed and reclaimed the Ban Tha Sen area and the nearby Tomoda Casino during operations along the border. According to reports, Marines found mostly Chinese nationals in the area rather than Cambodians, with shop and house signboards reportedly written largely in Chinese.

Cambodia’s Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra condemned the attack, saying that the actions amounted to serious violations of international norms. “These actions constitute serious violations of the UN Charter, international law and international humanitarian law. Cambodia strongly condemns this armed aggression and calls upon the international community to take immediate and necessary measures to halt the Thai military’s attacks on Cambodia,” he said as quoted by the news outlet.

Earlier this week, Cambodia’s defence ministry accused Thailand’s military of bombing the casino hub of Poipet, a major land crossing between the two nations. The ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Thai forces had “dropped 2 bombs” in the municipality of Poipet, located in the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey, at about 11am (04:00 GMT) that morning.

The interior ministry said this week that Thai strikes have damaged at least four casinos in Cambodia.

Renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours this month has killed at least 21 people in Thailand and 17 in Cambodia, while displacing about 800,000, officials said.

Thailand said on Tuesday that between 5,000 and 6,000 Thai nationals remained stranded in Poipet after Cambodia closed its land border crossings with its neighbour.

Thailand-Cambodia Clashes

The latest round of widespread fighting began on December 8, a day after a border skirmish wounded two Thai soldiers. Since then combat has broken out on several fronts, with Thailand carrying out airstrikes in Cambodia with F-16 fighter jets and Cambodia firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets from truck-mounted launchers that can shoot up to 40 at a time.

The two nations have been fighting over patches of territory along the border that both claim. Several disputed areas contain the remains of centuries-old temples that have been damaged by the fighting, with Thailand claiming Cambodian forces had used them as bases.

In July, five days of fighting ended with a ceasefire promoted by US President Donald Trump. It had been brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalised in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.

(With inputs from agencies)