Border Fighting Between Thailand, Cambodia Turns Deadly

By Staff, Agencies

Deadly clashes have escalated along the disputed Thailand-Cambodia border as both sides blamed each other for the fighting and vowed to defend their territories.

Seven civilians have been killed and 20 wounded in Cambodia and three Thai soldiers have been killed in the fiercest fighting since a five-day conflict in July.

The two sides accused each other of violating a US-backed ceasefire deal signed in the presence of Donald Trump six weeks ago.

On Tuesday morning, Cambodia’s senate president, Hun Sen, said that “after being patient for more than 24 hours” to respect the ceasefire deal and evacuate civilians, Cambodia had retaliated.

“Cambodia needs peace but Cambodia is compelled to counterattack to defend our territory,” he said in a Facebook post, saying his country had strong bunkers and weapons that would give it an advantage.

Hun Sen, who was prime minister for almost four decades, remains extremely powerful in Cambodia despite handing power to his son Hun Manet in 2023.

Thailand’s defence ministry spokesperson R Adm Surasant Kongsiri told the media that Thailand was “determined to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and therefore military measures must be taken as necessary”.

The Thai prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, has previously vowed his government would do whatever necessary to protect its territory. “There will be no talks. If the fighting is to end, [Cambodia] must do what Thailand has set,” he said.

On Tuesday the conflict spread further, with the Thai navy announcing it was taking action to expel Cambodian forces who it said were encroaching on Thai territory in Trat province.

The Thai military said Cambodia was using rocket launchers, bomb-dropping drones and artillery on Thai positions, and that artillery shells had fallen on two civilian homes in Sa Kaeo province. No casualties were reported.

Cambodia accused Thailand of firing into civilian areas and said “renewed aggression” by Thailand had “destroyed infrastructure, damaged temples, cultural property, human heritage and disrupted essential public services”.

More than 125,000 people in Thailand are staying in temporary evacuation shelters across Ubon Ratchathani, Sisaket, Surin and Buri Ram provinces, according to the Thai military. In Cambodia, more than 21,000 people have been evacuated across Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey, Banteay Meanchey provinces.

The century-old Thailand-Cambodia border dispute—rooted in French colonial-era maps—has repeatedly reignited along the 500-mile frontier, most recently surging in May and exploding into a five-day clash in July that left at least 48 dead and displaced 300,000 before a Trump-brokered ceasefire halted the fighting.

The ceasefire remains fragile, with both sides trading violation claims. Last month, Thailand suspended the deal, accusing Cambodia of laying new landmines along the border—one of which it said wounded a Thai soldier.

A Cambodian civilian was later killed and three wounded, according to the Cambodian prime minister, after each side accused the other of opening fire.