Cambodian, Thai troops exchange fire
Thai and Cambodian soldiers fired at each other with machine guns and rocket launchers along a disputed border, killing at least two soldiers on Friday in an escalation of tensions in a long-standing feud near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.
Two Thai soldiers were killed and six wounded in the fighting, the deputy commander of Thailand's Second Army, Lieutenant-General Thawatchai Samutsakorn, told Thai television.
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said 4 Thais had died and another 10 Thai soldiers were being held by Cambodian troops.
"The fighting has stopped. Commanders from both sides are talking," said Major Nou Sarath, a Cambodian officer at the border.
The fighting is the latest flare-up near the cliff-top Preah Vihear temple, which is on the Cambodian side of an ill-defined border that has been a source of conflict for decades. Two clashes last year sparked brief concerns of war.
In the first clash on Friday, Cambodia fired on some 60 Thai soldiers after they entered Cambodian territory, sparking a battle that lasted about 10 minutes, said Yim Kheang, a Cambodian soldier at the border. Officials from both sides said there were no injuries.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said the clash started when Thai soldiers arrived to investigate the site where one of their colleagues had his leg blown off by a land mine on Thursday. As they approached the area, Cambodian soldiers opened fire, he said.
Thailand and Cambodia have long had competing claims to land surrounding the temple, which the World Court awarded to Cambodia in 1962. Tensions flared last July after UNESCO, the UN cultural agency, approved Cambodia's bid to have the temple named a World Heritage Site. Both sides deployed troops.
Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan downplayed Friday morning's clash.
"It was an accident, a misunderstanding among officials on the ground, which is common when you are closely positioned," he told reporters in Bangkok.
AP
(China Daily 04/04/2009 page11)
