Thailand said it launched airstrikes into Cambodia on Monday as fighting broke out in multiple areas along their disputed border, Reuters reported, after both countries accused the other of breaching a ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
At least one Thai soldier had been killed, and eight were wounded in the fresh clashes, a Thai army spokesperson said, adding that air support was called in to hit Cambodian military targets.
Thailand’s Air Force said in a statement that Cambodia mobilized heavy weaponry, repositioned combat units, and prepared support elements that could escalate military operations.
Cambodia’s defense ministry said in a statement that the Thai military had launched dawn attacks on its forces at two locations, following days of provocative actions, and added that Cambodian troops had not responded.
Cambodia’s influential former longtime leader Hun Sen, father of current premier Hun Manet, said Thailand’s military was “aggressors” seeking to provoke a retaliatory response and urged Cambodian forces to exercise restraint.
Three Cambodian civilians have been seriously injured in the fighting so far, according to a senior provincial official. Cambodia’s defense ministry said its forces had not retaliated.
A simmering border dispute between the countries erupted into a five-day conflict in July, before a ceasefire deal brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Trump, who also witnessed the signing of an expanded peace agreement between the two countries in Kuala Lumpur in October.
Southeast Asian countries have rarely engaged in military clashes among themselves in recent decades, with the use of cross-border air strikes even rarer.
At least 48 people were killed, and an estimated 300,000 were temporarily displaced during the July clashes, with the neighbors exchanging rockets and heavy artillery fire for five days.
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