Hun Sen gives Thailand border ultimatum

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen gave Thailand an ultimatum yesterday to withdraw troops from a disputed stretch of jungle-clad border within 24 hours or his forces would turn the area into a "death zone".

"Thai troops must withdraw from Cambodian land by tomorrow at the latest," Hun Sen told reporters after meeting Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat in Phnom Penh. "We will not allow them to occupy our land."

The Thai army denied any incursion by its soldiers near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, which sits on the natural escarpment dividing the two nations and which has been a source of enmity for decades.