A Thai F-16 fighter jet bombed targets in Cambodia on Thursday, as confirmed by both nations, marking an escalation in weeks of border tensions that have resulted in at least two civilian fatalities. The Thai army reported that one of its six F-16 fighter jets, prepared for deployment along the contested border, fired into Cambodia, neutralizing a military objective. Both countries accused each other of initiating the conflict early Thursday.
“We have used air power against military targets as planned,” Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon informed reporters. Thailand subsequently closed its border with Cambodia. Cambodia’s defense ministry stated that the jets dropped two bombs on a road, and vehemently condemned “the reckless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thailand against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia.”
These skirmishes follow Thailand’s recall of its ambassador to Cambodia late Wednesday and its intention to expel Cambodia’s envoy in Bangkok. This diplomatic fallout came after a second Thai soldier within a week lost a limb to a landmine, which Bangkok alleged had been recently planted in the disputed territory. Thailand’s foreign ministry asserted that Cambodian troops discharged “heavy artillery” on a Thai military base Thursday morning and also targeted civilian zones, including a hospital, leading to civilian casualties. “The Royal Thai Government is prepared to intensify our self-defense measures if Cambodia persists in its armed attack and violations upon Thailand’s sovereignty,” the ministry declared in a statement.
Thai residents, including children and the elderly, sought refuge in shelters constructed from concrete and reinforced with sandbags and car tires in the Surin border province. “How many rounds have been fired? It’s countless,” an unidentified woman told the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (TPBS) from inside a shelter, with intermittent gunfire and explosions audible in the background. Cambodia’s foreign ministry labeled Thailand’s airstrikes “unprovoked” and urged its neighbor to withdraw its forces and “refrain from any further provocative actions that could escalate the situation.”
For over a century, Thailand and Cambodia have disputed sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817-km (508-mile) land border. This long-standing issue has led to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen fatalities, including during a week-long artillery exchange in 2011. Tensions reignited in May following the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a brief exchange of gunfire, escalating into a full-blown diplomatic crisis and now triggering armed clashes.
Landmines and Evacuations
The clashes commenced early Thursday near the disputed Ta Moan Thom temple along the eastern border between Cambodia and Thailand, approximately 360 km from the Thai capital, Bangkok. “Artillery shell fell on people’s homes,” Sutthirot Charoenthanasak, district chief of Kabcheing in Surin province, told Reuters, describing the Cambodian firing. “Two people have died,” he added, noting that district authorities had evacuated 40,000 civilians from 86 villages near the border to safer locations.
Thailand’s military reported that Cambodia deployed a surveillance drone before dispatching troops with heavy weaponry to an area near the temple. A Thai army spokesperson stated that Cambodian troops opened fire, wounding two Thai soldiers, and added that Cambodia had utilized multiple weapons, including rocket launchers. However, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s defense ministry asserted that there had been an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops, to which Cambodian forces responded in self-defense.
Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai acknowledged the delicate situation. “We have to be careful,” he told reporters. “We will follow international law.” An attempt by Thai premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra to ease recent tensions through a call with Cambodia’s influential former Prime Minister Hun Sen, the contents of which were leaked, ignited a political firestorm in Thailand, leading to her court-ordered suspension. Hun Sen, in a Facebook post, confirmed that two Cambodian provinces had been subjected to shelling by the Thai military.
Thailand this week accused Cambodia of planting landmines in a disputed area, which injured three soldiers. Phnom Penh denied the claim, stating the soldiers had deviated from agreed routes and triggered a mine left over from decades of war. Cambodia has millions of landmines remaining from its civil war decades ago, according to de-mining organizations. However, Thailand maintains that landmines have been recently placed in the border area, which Cambodia has dismissed as baseless allegations.
