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One person has been killed by gunfire along the Thai-Cambodia border as conflict heats up between the two nations days after a Trump-backed ceasefire agreement has broken down.
Fighting erupted between Thai and Cambodian troops over five days in July, with 43 people killed and 300,000 displaced in the worst fighting along the border in a decade. Donald Trump oversaw the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the two nations in Malaysia this October, after the US president previously threatened to withhold trade privileges from the two countries unless they stopped fighting.
But the newly signed truce has been shaky since Monday, when a Thai solder patrolling the border lost a foot in a landmine explosion, according to Thai authorities. Thailand blamed Cambodia for the blast, alleged the landmine was freshly laid, and announced it was suspending the terms of the deal.
Two days later, officials on both sides have reported gunfire across the border between Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province and Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province.
The Cambodian prime minister, Hun Manet, said three civilians had been wounded and one killed in Prey Chan, in Cambodia’s north-west.
“The action goes against the humanitarian spirit and recent agreements to resolve border issues peacefully,” he said in a statement.
A Cambodian residentin the area, Hul Malis, told news agencies that at least three people in her area had been wounded by gunfire from across the border. “They just shot at us. We did nothing,” she said. “I am so frightened, I am running away now.”
Her husband, Thong Kimleang, said Thai soldiers “fired a lot of shots” for about 15 minutes.
Bangkok has blamed Cambodian troops who “fired shots into Thai territory”, Thai army spokesperson Winthai Suvaree said.
The border dispute goes back centuries, stemming from maps drawn when Cambodia was under French colonial rule and which Thailand says are inaccurate. A scattering of temples along the border are claimed by both sides.
The ceasefire agreement did not resolve the underlying basis of the dispute or longstanding differences over where the border should run. Trump has cited it, however, as evidence of his presidential peace-making abilities.
On Tuesday, the Thai prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, visited frontline troops at the border and told reporters: “Today, we consider that the deal that we made in order to bring peace is now over.”
Foreign ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura later clarified that Thailand had paused the agreement’s implementation, not officially withdrawn from it.
Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report
