Thai and Cambodian soldiers fired at each other in a contested border area after the nations downgraded their diplomatic relations in a rapidly escalating dispute.

It was not immediately clear if the clash was ongoing. A livestream video from Thailand’s side showed people running from their homes and hiding in a concrete bunker on Thursday morning as explosions sounded periodically.

The clash happened in an area where the ancient Prasat Ta Muen Thom temple stands along the border of Thailand’s Surin province and Cambodia Oddar Meanchey province.

Thai forces examine a landmine near the Cambodian border. (AP)

Both Thailand and Cambodia accused each other of opening fire first.

Earlier on Thursday, Cambodia said it was downgrading diplomatic relations with Thailand to their lowest level, expelling the Thai ambassador and recalling all Cambodian staff from its embassy in Bangkok.

That was in response to Thailand closing its north-eastern border crossings with Cambodia, withdrawing its ambassador and expelling the Cambodian ambassador on Wednesday to protest a land mine blast that wounded five Thai soldiers.

Relations between the South-East Asian neighbours have deteriorated sharply since May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in an armed confrontation in another of the several small patches of land both countries claim as their own territory.

The Thai army said of Thursday’s clash that its forces heard an unmanned aerial vehicle before seeing six armed Cambodian soldiers moving closer to Thailand’s station.

It said Thai soldiers tried to shout at them to defuse the situation but the Cambodian side started to open fire.

Thai soldiers inspect a border area in Ubon Ratchathani province where the Royal Thai Army said two anti-personnel landmines were found. (AP)

Cambodia’s Defence Ministry said Thailand started the armed clash and Cambodia “acted strictly within the bounds of self-defence, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity.”

Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen posted on his Facebook page, urging people not to panic and have faith in their government and the military.

On Wednesday, a land mine blast near the border wounded five Thai soldiers, one of whom lost a leg.

A week earlier, a land mine in a different contested area exploded and wounded three Thai soldiers when one of them stepped on it and lost a foot.



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Thai authorities have alleged the mines were newly laid along paths that by mutual agreement were supposed to be safe. They said the mines were Russian-made and not of a type employed by Thailand’s military.

Cambodia rejected Thailand’s account as “baseless accusations”, pointing out that many unexploded mines and other ordnance are a legacy of 20th-century wars and unrest.

Nationalist passions on both sides have further inflamed the situation, and Thailand’s prime minister was suspended from office on July 1 to be investigated for possible ethics violations over her handling of the border dispute.

Border disputes are longstanding issues that have caused periodic tensions between the countries. The most prominent and violent conflicts have been around the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded sovereignty over the area to Cambodia and that became a major irritant in the relations of both countries.

Cambodia went back to the court in 2011, following several clashes between its army and Thai forces which killed about 20 people and displaced thousands. The court reaffirmed the ruling in 2013, a decision that still rattled Thailand.

An anti-personnel landmine near the Thailand-Cambodia border. (AP)

Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire near a disputed border area, according to statements from both countries’ militaries.

According to local media, citing Thailand’s Royal Army, the clash occurred after a Cambodian unmanned aerial vehicle was heard flying near the Ta Moan Thom temple in northeastern Thailand at around 7:35 a.m. on Thursday.

Thai forces reportedly observed six armed Cambodian soldiers—some carrying rocket-propelled explosives —approaching the barbed wire near the Thai base. Thai forces allegedly used verbal warnings to avoid conflict, but at approximately 8:20 a.m., they said Cambodian troops opened fire from a position about 200 meters east of the Thai post.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Defense accused Thai forces of launching an unprovoked attack on Cambodian positions near the Moan Thom Temple. Spokeswoman Mali Socheata said Cambodian troops acted in self-defense after Thai soldiers allegedly opened fire and sealed off public access to the site, which Cambodia claims lies within its territory.

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Local residents told the Khmer Times they heard gunfire and explosions, suggesting the possible use of heavy weapons.

Earlier, Thailand closed several northeastern border crossings and expelled Cambodia’s ambassador on Wednesday in response to a land mine blast that severely injured a Thai soldier, according to the Associated Press.

Cambodia responded by recalling its diplomats from Bangkok and downgrading diplomatic relations to their lowest level.

Both countries lay claim to overlapping sections of land containing centuries-old Angkorian sites, leading to periodic military standoffs and clashes over the years.

As informed by CNN

On Thursday, gunfire erupted in a disputed border area between Thailand and Cambodia, occurring a day after a Thai soldier lost a leg due to a landmine explosion. These events have heightened tensions between the two Southeast Asian countries, where a longstanding border dispute could escalate into a more serious conflict.

Thai military forces accused Cambodian troops of firing at a Thai base located near the ancient Ta Muen Thom temple, situated on contested territory. It is known that Cambodia deployed a drone in front of the temple and then sent troops armed with weapons.

“Six armed Cambodian soldiers, including those carrying RPGs, were spotted near the barbed wire in front of the Thai operational base.”

A representative of Cambodia’s Ministry of Defense stated that their forces acted in self-defense, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai soldiers.

“Cambodian forces acted strictly within the bounds of self-defense, responding to an unprovoked invasion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity,” – Lieutenant General Mali Socheat

Thailand’s Deputy Defense Minister General Nattaphon Narkpanit confirmed that operations are ongoing, citing preliminary reports from the border. According to the Thai army, at least two soldiers were wounded during the incident.

Two hospitals in Surin province, located near the site of the clash, began evacuating patients, the Thai Ministry of Health reported. This armed conflict occurred a day after another Thai soldier lost a leg due to a landmine explosion in a different section of the disputed border.

The explosion injured five Thai soldiers, worsening diplomatic relations between Thailand and Cambodia. Thailand recalled its ambassador from Phnom Penh and expelled the Cambodian ambassador, as well as closed parts of its northeastern border to locals and tourists.

In response, Cambodia downgraded relations with Thailand “to the lowest level” and ordered all diplomatic staff to return home. Tensions between the neighbors had already escalated in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a clash between the two countries’ forces in the disputed border area of the Emerald Triangle.

This conflict carries serious political consequences for Thailand, fueling nationalist sentiments in both countries. Former Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was temporarily suspended from her duties earlier this month following a leaked phone conversation in which she appeared to criticize her own military’s actions in this conflict.

The situation continues to develop, and updates will follow.

Thai and Cambodian forces exchanged gunfire early on Thursday near a disputed border temple, reportedly resulting in the deaths of at least two Thai civilians and injuring two soldiers.

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Both countries traded blame for the first clash in weeks at the flashpoint Ta Moan Thom temple, which is in a disputed zone near Thailand’s eastern frontier with Cambodia.

In a statement early on Thursday, the Thai military said Cambodian troops sparked the clash, deploying a surveillance drone and then opening fire after sending troops with heavy weapons – including rocket launchers – to the flashpoint area.

At least two Thai soldiers were wounded in the clashes, Thai army deputy spokesman Colonel Richa Suksuwanont told reporters.

At least two Thai civilians have been killed and two others injured by Thursday’s shelling from the Cambodian side, a Thai district official said. Some 40,000 civilians from 86 villages in Thailand were also evacuated to safer locations, Sutthirot Charoenthanasak, district chief of Kabcheing in Surin province, said.

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Thailand deployed an F-16 fighter jet for action against the Cambodian military along the border, one of six being readied, an army regiment said on social media on Thursday.

Thailand’s embassy in Cambodia has urged its nationals to leave the country as troops from the two nations clashed over a disputed border area.

The embassy in Phnom Penh said in a Facebook post that Thais should leave Cambodia “as soon as possible” unless they had urgent reasons to remain.

Armed clashes broke out between Thailand and Cambodia along a disputed area of their border, both countries said, accusing each other of firing the first shots after weeks of tensions and diplomatic disputes.

The neighbours are locked in a row over an area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of both countries and Laos meet.

The area is also home to several ancient temples.

The dispute has dragged on for decades, spiraling into military clashes more than 15 years ago and again in May, when a Cambodian solider was killed in a firefight.

A Cambodian government source told AFP that violence broke out again this morning near two temples on the border between the Thai province of Surin and Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey.

“The Thai military violated the territorial integrity of the kingdom of Cambodia by launching an armed assault on Cambodian forces stationed to defend the nation’s sovereign territory,” defence ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata said in a statement.

“In response, the Cambodian armed forces exercised their legitimate right to self defence, in full accordance with international law, to repel the Thai incursion and protect Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she added.

According to the Thai army, the incident began around 7:35am (01:35am Irish time) when a unit guarding Ta Muen temple heard a Cambodian drone overhead.

It added that following this, six armed Cambodian soldiers, including one carrying a rocket-propelled grenade, approached a barbed-wired fence in front of the Thai post.

Thai soldiers shouted to warn them, the army said, but added Cambodian forces opened fire toward the eastern side of the temple, about 200m from the Thai base.

Thai police stand guard outside the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Bangkok during a demonstration

The clash came after Thailand recalled its ambassador to Cambodia late yesterday and said it would expel Cambodia’s envoy in Bangkok after a second Thai soldier in the space of a week lost a limb to a landmine that Thailand said had been laid recently in the disputed area.

Thailand’s military said Cambodia deployed a surveillance drone before sending troops with heavy weapons to an area near disputed Ta Moan Thom temple along the eastern border, around 360km from the capital Bangkok

Cambodian troops opened fire and two Thai soldiers were wounded, a Thai army spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that Cambodia had used multiple weapons, including rocket launchers.

However, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s defence ministry said there had been an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops and Cambodian forces had responded in self-defence.

Thailand deployed an F-16 fighter jet for action against the Cambodian military along the border between the two southeast Asian neighbours, one of six being readied, the Second Army region said on social media post.

Cambodia’s influential former premier Hun Sen in a Facebook post said two Cambodian provinces had come under shelling from the Thai military.

Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the situation was delicate.

“We have to be careful,” he told reporters, adding the country “will follow international law”.

“For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at various un-demarcated points along their 817km land border, which has led to skirmishes overs everal years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a weeklong exchange of artillery in 2011,” he said.

Tensions were reignited in May following the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a brief exchange of gunfire, which escalated into a diplomatic crisis and now has triggered armed clashes.

An attempt by Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to resolve the recent tensions via a call with Mr Sen, the contents of which were leaked, kicked off a political storm in Thailand, leading to her suspension by a court.

Cambodia has many landmines left over from its civil war decades ago, numbering in the millions according to de-mining groups.

But Thailand maintains landmines have been placed at the border area recently, which Cambodia has described as baseless allegations.