Hours before Thailand deployed F-16 fighter jets against Cambodian military targets, armed clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces broke out along the border on Thursday, according to military officials.
They began early morning when Thailand’s military said Cambodian troops fired at a Thai army base in an area near the ancient Ta Muen Thom Temple – which lies in disputed territory in the south of Thailand’s Surin province and in Cambodia’s northwest. It said Cambodia had deployed an unmanned drone in front of the temple before sending troops in with weapons.
It also accused Cambodian troops of firing heavy weapons into a civilian area in the nearby Kap Choeng district, in Surin province.
A Cambodian Defense Ministry spokesperson said their troops had acted in self-defense after an unprovoked incursion from Thai soldiers.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a post on Facebook that Thailand attacked army positions at two temple sites in its Oddar Meanchey province, as well as in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province and Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province.
Hun Manet also called on Cambodian citizens to remain calm.
At least two Thai soldiers were injured on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing a Thai army official.
Two hospitals in Thailand’s Surin province near the site of the clash have begun evacuating patients, according to Thailand’s ministry of public health.
