Border dispute leaves12 dead as Thai and Cambodian forces clash

Thailand launched air strikes on Cambodia on Thursday as a simmering border dispute erupted into open conflict, with soldiers on both sides trading fire – and Cambodian troops unleashing rockets that killed at least 12 Thais, most of them civilians. Both countries traded blame for the clashes, which began at the flashpoint Ta Moan Thom temple in a disputed zone near Thailand’s eastern frontier with Cambodia. With their long shared border closed, the fighting escalated through Thursday morning and six Thai F-16 fighter jets were deployed, firing on Cambodian positions and hitting “two military targets on the ground”, said Thai army spokesman Ritcha Suksuwanon. Eleven Thai civilians and one soldier were killed in the outbreak of border hostilities, Thailand’s Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said, telling reporters that Cambodia’s actions, including an attack on a hospital, should be considered war crimes.
Cambodia’s defence ministry condemned what it called reckless and brutal Thai military aggression, accusing its neighbour of opening fire on its troops and violating an agreement designed to de-escalate a territorial dispute that has festered for weeks.The strikes come a day after a Thai soldier lost his leg to a landmine on the border, prompting a downgrade of diplomatic ties by both Bangkok and Phnom Penh as relations collapsed to their lowest level in years. Thailand and Cambodia have had a complicated relationship of both cooperation and rivalry. They share a 500-mile (800-kilometre) land border – largely mapped by France when it ruled Cambodia – that has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.