Bangkok, Thailand / Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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Thailand and Cambodia exchanged fire along their disputed border for a second day on Friday, officials from both countries said, with more than a dozen people reported killed and more than 135,000 civilians evacuated.
Tensions between the Southeast Asian neighbors have been boiling for months over disputed sections of their 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border, demarcated partly by Cambodia’s former colonial ruler France, and which runs near several archaeologically significant religious sites that both countries claim.
Clashes broke out at 4:30 a.m. local time on Friday after Cambodia initiated firing, using small arms and heavy weapons, Col. Richa Sooksuwanon, the deputy spokesperson for the Thai army, told CNN. The Thai army responded with artillery fire, he said.
Clashes were taking place in two locations in Ubon Ratchathani province and one in Surin province, the Thai Army said, warning the public to avoid the area. Heavy weapon and rocket fire had been reported coming from Cambodia, it said.
It also warned that its forces were conducting bomb disposal operations and recovering bodies from the Kantharalak district that had been hit by Cambodian rockets on Thursday.
Videos shared by Reuters news agency on Friday showed Thai artillery firing, each shot emitting loud booms and smoke into the air.
Thursday’s clashes saw exchanges of small arms and rocket fire between Thailand – a United States treaty ally – and its smaller neighbor Cambodia. Thailand later scrambled F-16 jets and bombed what it said were military targets inside Cambodia.
Both countries also have close ties with China, which, along with the US, has called for de-escalation.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has claimed that Thailand backed out of a ceasefire proposed by the head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Phnom Penh agreed to on Thursday night.
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday that it thanked the Malaysian prime minister “for the offer of a ceasefire, which Thailand fully agrees with in principle and will consider. However, it must be stated that throughout the day, Cambodian forces have continued their indiscriminate attacks on Thai territory.”
Video shows Thai drones dropping bombs at Thailand-Cambodia border
At least 16 people have been killed so far in Thailand, mostly civilians, according to the Thai Ministry of Health.
Varawut Silpa-archa, Thailand’s minister of social development and human security, said in a Friday address posted to Facebook condemning attacks on civilians.
“This is not just a breach of borders. It is a breach of humanity,” he said. “… These attacks have shattered the sense of safety for ordinary people, and cast fear into peaceful communities.”
And in Cambodia, at least one person has been killed and five wounded, according to Met Measpheakdey, a spokesperson from Oddar Meanchey province, which borders Thailand’s Buri Ram, Surin and Si Saket provinces. He added that as of Friday morning, tensions were “still heated.”
“The exchange of fighting… is still happening,” he said.
Cambodian officials accused the Thai military of using cluster munitions at two locations early Friday.
Thailand will consider using cluster munitions “as necessary against military targets to enhance target destruction capabilities,” a Royal Thai Army spokesperson said Friday, adding that Thailand is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM).
Cluster munitions, also called cluster bombs, are canisters that carry tens to hundreds of smaller submunitions. They are controversial because the submunitions can fall over a wide area, and many of the bomblets fail, meaning they could be detonated years or even decades later.
More than 100 nations are part of the CCM treaty to prohibit all use, production, transfer and stockpile of cluster munitions, but some notable nations have not signed, including Thailand, Cambodia, the United States and Russia.
More than 4,000 people in Cambodia have been displaced from their homes near the border, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing another official from Oddar Meanchey.
Videos from Oddar Meanchey on Thursday showed villagers fleeing in the dead of night, packing their belongings into vehicles and sleeping under tarps.
As of Thursday, more than 130,000 Thai residents had evacuated to temporary shelters, according to the Thai Ministry of Health. Footage from Surin province showed evacuees sheltering in a university, resting on mats on the floor and eating out of plastic containers.
In a different part of the province, evacuee Ngerntra Pranoram said she was “shocked” by the fighting. “Nobody wants this to happen. I feel for the elderly and the disabled. It’s very difficult for them to get here,” she said, according to Reuters. “Some people have cars, which is good, but for those who don’t, it’s really hard.”
Thailand’s military activated martial law in the provinces of Chanthaburi and Trat on Friday, according to the defense command for those areas. Those two provinces have not seen any clashes in recent days, but they are on the border with Cambodia.
An analyst at Human Rights Watch told CNN that the activation of martial law means the Thai military can detain individuals for up to seven days without announcing charges, and a curfew and limitations on movement could also potentially be implemented.
The US Embassy in Thailand on Friday advised American citizens to avoid traveling within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of the Thailand-Cambodia border amid the ongoing clashes.
The recent flare-up came after five Thai soldiers were wounded in a landmine explosion on Wednesday.
But tensions had been building since May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a clash between Thai and Cambodian troops in which both sides opened fire in another contested border area of the Emerald Triangle, where Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet.
Thailand and Cambodia have a relationship of both cooperation and rivalry. The land border — largely mapped by France when it ruled Cambodia — has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.
“Both sides, Cambodians and Thais, feel resentful of history,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “Thais think that the French took some land from Thailand, gave it to Cambodia. Cambodians think that this is their civilization from a long, long time ago, and ultimately this is their land.”
But it’s not an evenly matched fight. Thailand’s military dwarfs Cambodia’s in both personnel and weaponry; its 361,000 active-duty personnel is three times Cambodia’s manpower.
And the United States classes Thailand as a major non-NATO ally, enabling Bangkok to enjoy decades of US support for its weapons programs.
Thailand is currently wracked with uncertainty; its Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra suspended from duties in July after the leak of a phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader Hun Sen, in which she appeared to criticize her own army’s actions in the dispute.
Thailand’s military has long been a major player within the kingdom’s politics and has seized power in multiple coups, often toppling democratic governments. It portrays itself as the ultimate defender of the monarchy.
CNN’s Patrick Sarnsamak and Len Leng contributed reporting.
