Thailand-Cambodia updates: Renewed border clashes, fighting enters 2nd week

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For more on Thailand launching a new offensive and Cambodia closing its border crossings, read our piece here.

Earlier, Thailand’s prime minister said his country has not reached a ceasefire with Cambodia. You can read more here.

We also have live coverage of the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia that you can follow here.

We will be closing this live page shortly. But before we do, here are the day’s main developments:

• Thailand says a civilian has been killed in the border province of Sisaket by a rocket fired from Cambodia.
• The Thai military reports “tense” clashes at key disputed temple sites, including Prasat Ta Krabey and Prasat Ta Muen Thorn.
• Cambodia’s Defence Ministry says Thailand has attacked three villages in Banteay Meanchey province and carried out air raids on one. No casualties have been reported.
• The Thai army has emphasised it “never mentioned” a ceasefire and “there is no plan” to stop the fighting.
• Cambodia has accused Thailand’s Second Army Area of spreading false news but credited the army with photos posted on an unverified social media page.
• Cambodian evacuees say they fear for their loved ones who have been left stranded in Thailand after Cambodia shuttered all border crossings with its neighbour.

Thai authorities say Cambodia has launched thousands of the rockets on virtually a daily basis.

Thailand, meanwhile, has been carrying out air strikes with its fighter planes as Cambodia said the bombing continued today.

Residents in the Thai village of Kantharalak said several houses there were damaged by a rocket attack on Saturday.

Kanbancha Charoensri, who was in the village during the attack, said several rockets landed nearby and injured a few people.

“Houses that were hit directly were totally destroyed,” he said. “The ground was shaking so much. It was so scary.

Thailand has imposed martial law in several districts of the easternmost province of Trat.

Defence Ministry spokesman Surasant Kongsiri said the Royal Thai Navy would impose a curfew in four districts of Trat, adding that the fighting continued along the border, according to the Bangkok Post.

Martial law has been enforced in these districts, authorising detention or searches of people, vehicles, or structures believed to present a security threat.

Cambodia’s Defence Ministry has called updates from Thailand’s Second Army Area “completely fake and distorted” while sharing photos from an unofficial Thai military account.

In a Facebook post, the ministry reposted photos of purported Thai military operations superimposed with a red “Fake News” label. They originated from a page called “Army Military Force”, which calls itself “100% independent and not affiliated with the Royal Thai Army”.

“The Cambodian Ministry of National Defence demands that the Thai side: Cease the dissemination of distorted information,” the ministry wrote. “Stop lying to your own people and the international community.”

In the English version of the post, however, the ministry appeared to credit the photos to the Thai Second Army Area official page, which has often shared battlefield updates that Cambodia has denied.

Fake news accusations are a common feature of the Thai-Cambodia conflict. Both governments have accused one another of waging an information war.

Here are the latest developments:

• The Thai military is reporting “tense” clashes at key disputed temple sites, including Prasat Ta Krabey and Prasat Ta Muen Thorn.
• Cambodia’s Defence Ministry says Thailand attacked three villages in Banteay Meanchey province and carried out air raids on one. No casualties were reported.
• The Royal Thai Army has emphasised it “never mentioned” a ceasefire and that “there is no plan” to stop fighting.
• Cambodia has accused Thailand’s Second Army Area of spreading fake news, but credited the army with photos posted by an unverified page.
• Cambodian evacuees say they fear for their loved ones who have been left stranded in Thailand after Cambodia shuttered all border crossings with its neighbour.

The Thai army has reported the death of one civilian in the border province of Sisaket after it says Cambodia launched BM-21 rockets in the area.

The man was identified as 63-year-old Don Patchapan. Shrapnel struck him when rockets landed in “the heart of a community area and a school” in Kantharalak district, the army said.

Photos posted by the military showed a body bag being lifted into an ambulance and a damaged house surrounded by rubble.

Most of the villages are empty or nearly empty.

The few residents who remain are volunteers given a small amount of training by the local district government and the army. They are permitted to carry guns.

In every village, we see half a dozen uniformed individuals walking around with shotguns or antique rifles.

Beyond that, most people are heading to hastily assembled camps away from the front line. Just a few days ago, the number of people displaced was half a million on both sides of the border.

Cambodia has now closed its border, meaning Cambodians who wish to return home cannot do so. Meanwhile, up to 7,000 Thais stranded at the Poipet land crossing appear stuck inside Cambodia.

Making movements even harder, Thailand has announced a full curfew in five districts where heavy fighting is taking place. From 7pm to 5am, no one is allowed on the roads. People desperately want to get out, but the restrictions are tightening – and the situation is becoming increasingly serious.

Hundreds of people of Cambodian descent are demonstrating in Melbourne to advocate for a peace deal.

Photos shared by Cambodian media outlets showed crowds filling the steps of parliament and spilling across the street, many with Cambodian flags draped over their shoulders or painted on their cheeks.

“War kills civilians on both sides,” one sign read, while others accused Thailand of lying or called for peace.

Australia is home to a sizeable and politically active Cambodian diaspora population, with more than 57,000 people of Cambodian ancestry living there, according to the 2021 census.

We’ve been forced into a bunker by the army and told to stay put until they give us the all-clear.

They’re anticipating an uptick in fighting.

We arrived here about 20 minutes after this town was hit. One person was killed by shrapnel. Volleys of Cambodian Grad rockets have been landing all morning along this frontier.

This comes after Trump’s recent push to get both countries to recommit to the peace agreement struck in October.

However, both prime ministers have made it clear they will keep fighting until they believe their sovereignty is secure. It’s uncertain what that will take. A return to the peace deal does not appear imminent.

The Royal Thai Army says it “never mentioned or had any plans” for a ceasefire and that “there is no plan” to stop fighting.

Carrying a statement from army spokesperson Major-General Winthai Suvaree and other top military leaders, the army claimed Cambodia has launched attacks with heavy weapons, BM-21 rockets and suicide drones. It added that it faced “a serious threat to national security and affects the Thai people”.

“The Royal Thai Army confirms that this operation will continue until Cambodia ceases its hostilities and attacks against Thai troops and civilians in the border area,” the army said.

Analysts have told Al Jazeera that the Thai military has resisted US-backed ceasefire plans for months.

Overnight fighting near several temples in the disputed border areas was “tense”, the Thai military has said in a new update.

The Second Army Area accused the Cambodian military of attacking with a mix of fire, mortars, artillery, BM-21 rocket launchers and snipers in Sisaket and Surin provinces, describing its own response as retaliation.

Fire was exchanged at Prasat Ta Krabey, known as Prasat Ta Kwai in Thai, as well as Prasat Ta Muen Thorn. Both are disputed sites that have become flashpoints in the conflict.

The Thai army also said Cambodia has “increased its troop deployment, reinforcing artillery and BM-21 rockets in several areas”.

• February 13: Cambodian soldiers escorted 25 civilians to the Prasat Ta Moan Thon Temple in Thailand near the border, where they reportedly sang their national anthem. Thai military officials stated that they stopped the tourists from singing because it violated mutual agreements regarding tourist protocols.
• February 17: The Thai army sent a warning letter to the Cambodian military, accusing it of “inappropriate behaviour” and instructing it not to repeat the incident.
• May 28: Both sides clashed in the disputed border area of the Emerald Triangle, killing one Cambodian soldier.
• June 12: Cambodian PM announced that Cambodia would stop relying on Thai electricity and internet infrastructure due to “threats”. Cambodian TV stations stopped broadcasting Thai movies, and Cambodia also blocked imports of fuel and gas, as well as fruit and vegetables, from Thailand.
• June 14: Officials from both countries met for talks, but no concrete agreement was reached.
• June 15: Thai PM held a call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen and discussed the tensions.
• June 26: Thailand ordered operators to stop providing broadband and mobile internet connections to Cambodia.
• July 1: Thai PM suspended after the phone call with Hun Sen, in which he appeared to criticise the Thai military’s actions, was leaked to the public.
• December 8: The Thai military launched air attacks along the disputed border as the Southeast Asian neighbours traded blame for clashes that killed one Thai soldier and four Cambodian civilians.

The Thai military has performed a ceremony to return the bodies of four soldiers to their home provinces of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Suphan Buri, Krabi and Narathiwat.

Photos posted to the Second Army Area’s Facebook page showed soldiers carrying four coffins – emblazoned with the red, white and dark blue of the Thai flag – into what appeared to be a small plane.

The deceased included two privates, Mustakim Chema and Krittikorn Soiraya, and two sergeant majors, Taweerat Rattanaburi and Damrongkiat Kaewkrajang.

At least 14 Thai soldiers have been killed in the clashes so far.

The Thai military has shelled at least two Cambodian villages and bombed another in Banteay Meanchey province, the Cambodian Ministry of Defence claims in its latest update.

Just before 10am (03:00 GMT), Thai forces shelled Prey Chan village, before carrying out an air attack in nearby Thmar Sen village.

Shelling continued in Prey Chan just before noon (05:00 GMT), the update said. At around 12:25pm (05:25 GMT), the military shelled Boeung Trakuan village.

Other Thai military activities included flying F-16 jets and drones over O’Bei Choan commune, which is home to Prey Chan village, the ministry added. No deaths or injuries were reported.

Sean Leap has been living at a Banteay Meanchey evacuation centre for six days, racked with anxiety over his home and livestock as the fighting continues.

“I want it to stop,” the 63-year-old said.

Another Cambodian, Cheav Sokun, has been sleeping under a makeshift tent without her husband, who remains in Thailand after Cambodia closed all border crossings.

When fighting first broke out in July, she and her son joined thousands of other migrant workers fleeing their neighbouring country. But her husband asked them to return without him, as he stayed on to keep working as a gardener.

Now, he “cannot come back”, 38-year-old Sokun said. “I worry about him, but I tell him not to go around. We are afraid that if they know that we are Cambodians, they would attack us.”

Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow says Trump’s latest ceasefire efforts are based on “distorted” information.

“We’re concerned because some of the points in his tweet don’t, in our view, reflect an accurate understanding of the situation,” he said in televised comments on Saturday, referring to Trump’s claim that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to stop fighting.

“Some of those points are inconsistent with the facts. Perhaps President Trump’s source of information had deliberately distorted the facts.”

Earlier this week, Phuangketkeow told Al Jazeera there was no space for diplomacy in the current conflict and that a peace deal “must come from Cambodians”.