The conflict between Thai’s neighbors and Cambodia escalated with Cambodia on Thursday and fired missiles and artillery shells to Thailand and Thai military years F-16 to carry out air strikes.
At least nine civilians, including a child, were reportedly killed, because weeks of tension above the border dispute escalated on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Fights broke near two temples on the border between the Thai province of Surina and the Cambodian departure. Both sides accused others for the start of the conflict.
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What we know about conflict in Thailand Cambudia:
What is the dispute?
Thailand and Cambodia are locked in bitter spit in an area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of both countries and Laos meet and are home to several ancient temples.
For decades, the quarrel pulled and ignited into bloody military clashes more than 15 years ago and again in May, when the Cambodian soldier was killed during a shootout.
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For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia questioned the sovereignty in various unpopular points along their 817 km (508 miles) of the land limit, which led to skirmishes for several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during the weekly artillery exchange in 2011.
The tension was ruled in May after killing a Cambodian soldier during a short shooting replacement that escalated into a fully blown diplomatic crisis and has now caused armed clashes.
What led to a recent conflict?
The violence on Thursday was reported hours after Thailand excluded the Cambodian ambassador and remembered his owner in protest after five members of the Thai military patrol were injured by the mainland.
The second Thai soldier lost his limb on the landscape in the week, which was reportedly recently laid in a disputed area.
Thai acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai said that the investigation of the Thai army found that Cambodia had laid new mainland in the disputed border area – a claim that Phnom Penh rejected.
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On Thursday morning, Cambodia announced that it reached the “lowest level” and pulled all except one of his diplomats and excluded their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh.
In recent weeks, both sides have seen a series of tit-for-tatum crossing, while Thailand limited the border crossings and Cambodian stops of certain imports.
What is happening? Key points to know
1. The Thai army said the clashes began around 7:35 in the morning (0035 GMT) when the unit guarding the temple of Ta Men heard the Cambodian drones over their heads. “Later, six armed Cambodian soldiers, including one bearing rocket -powered grenade, proceeded to a barbed fence in front of the Thai column,” the army said.
Thai soldiers shouted to warn them, said the army, but around 8:20 in the morning they started fire to the eastern side of the temple, about 200 meters from the Thai base.
2. However, Cambodia blamed Thailand for violating his “territorial integrity”. The Cambodian Foreign Ministry said that Thai air strikes were “unprovoked” and called on his neighbor to withdraw his strength and “abstain from any other provocative measures that could escalate the situation”.
The Ministry of Defense spokesperson Mala Socheat said: “The Thai Army violated the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia by launching an armed attack on the Cambodian forces located to defend the state sovereign territory.”
“In response to Cambodian armed forces, they exercised their legitimate right to self -defense in full harmony with international law to reflect Thai entry and protect Cambodian sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement added.
3. The Thai Foreign Ministry said that Cambodian troops fired “heavy artillery” on the Thai military base on Thursday morning and also focused on civilian areas, including the hospital, leading to civilian victims.
The Thai Prime Minister’s office claimed that the Cambodian artillery shell hit the house across the border and killed one civilian and injured three more, including a five -year -old child, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, Thai spokesman for the government accused Cambodia of “inhuman, brutal and war starvation”.
4. The Thai fighter aircraft F-16 bombed targets in Cambodia on Thursday, both sides said. Of the six F-16 fighter aircraft, which Thailand prepared for deployment along the disputed border, one of the aircraft fired into Cambodia and destroyed the military goal, the Thai army said.
5. The Cambodian Ministry of Defense said that the nozzles had dropped two bombs on the road and that it “strongly condemned the ruthless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thai against the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Cambodia”.
6. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet applied for an urgent UN Security Council to deal with what his Foreign Ministry called “Uncovered military aggression”.
7. Bangkok’s Foreign Ministry said that all border crossings were closed and evacuated.
Fallout
The border line also launched a domestic political crisis in Thailand, where Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended from the office to an ethical probe over her behavior.
From the Cambodian side there was a diplomatic challenge between Paetongtarn and Hun Dream, a former Cambodian long -time ruler and father Hun Manet, which caused a court investigation.
Last week, Hun Manet announced that Cambodia will launch professional civilians next year and activate a long -term compulsory bill.
(Tagstotranslate) conflict in Cambodia in Thailand
