Thailand Bombs Cambodia Targets; Numerous Killed

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH (Worthy News) – Thailand and neighboring Cambodia moved towards war on Thursday with a Thai F-16 fighter jet bombing Cambodian targets across the border as a border dispute escalated into clashes that reportedly killed at least 12 people, including 11 civilians.

Of the six F-16 fighter planes that Thailand readied to deploy along the disputed border, one of the aircraft fired into Cambodia and destroyed a military target, the Thai army said. The Thai army added that it carried out airstrikes on two Cambodian military installations.

Both countries accused each other of starting the fighting early Thursday.

Footage reviewed by Worthy News purportedly showed the Royal Cambodian Army shelling several Thai border towns with multiple rocket launchers.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said the shelling was in response to actions by the Thai army near temples in the provinces of Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, and Ubon Ratchathani.

The Cambodian leader requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council in response to the violence, saying it “gravely threatened peace in the region”.

The Royal Cambodian Army shelled several Thai border towns with multiple rocket launchers, witnesses said.

CLOSING BORDERS

In response, Thailand announced it had closed its border with Cambodia because of these attacks.

Thailand’s Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said 11 civilians, including an eight-year-old boy, and a soldier had been killed in artillery shelling by Cambodian forces.

He said 24 civilians and seven military personnel had been wounded.

Somsak told reporters that Cambodia’s actions, including an attack on a hospital, should be “considered war crimes.”

The fighting has led to the evacuation of at least 40,000 civilians from 86 villages near the border to safer locations, according to authorities in Thailand’s Surin province.

Residents were seen fleeing to bomb shelters built of concrete and fortified with sandbags and car tyres.

Relations between Thailand and Cambodia have escalated in recent months due to an armed conflict in territory claimed by both sides.

HISTORICAL DISPUTE

The conflict between the two mainly Buddhist nations is part of a decades-long border dispute, particularly over the Preah Vihear temple.

Observers said similar clashes occurred in 2008 and 2011.

Amid regional calls for mediation, Thailand’s caretaker Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters that fighting had to stop before negotiations.

He said there had been “no declaration of war” and that the fighting was not spreading to other provinces.

However, with fighting rapidly escalating, there were concerns Thursday that the clashes could rapidly escalate into a broader regional armed conflict.

It was not immediately clear what impact the fighting would have on minorities, including Christians, who are a tiny part of both nations’ populations.

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