BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand and Cambodia were engaged in combat along their border on Friday, even as the two countries held talks to try to put an end to armed clashes that erupted in early December, breaking a ceasefire that had been reached five months earlier.
Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said that Thailand deployed F-16 fighter jets to drop around 40 bombs on a village in the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey.
There were no immediate reports
of casualties, but the ministry said that houses and infrastructure were destroyed.
Thailand’s military confirmed the attack, saying that a joint army-air force operation was essential to protect Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province, which borders Banteay Meanchey and where the two nations have overlapping territorial claims.
Long-standing competing claims of territory along the border are the root of tensions that broke into open combat in late July. Mediation by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, backed up by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, led the two sides to agree to a shaky ceasefire after five days of fighting.
Each side describes its current military actions as being taken in self-defense, and blames the other for breaching the ceasefire.
“If Cambodia is not sincere about a ceasefire, peace will not be possible, and Thailand will have no choice but to proceed with full-scale military operations to defend its sovereignty,” Air Marshal Jackkrit Thammavichai, a spokesperson for Thailand’s air force, said Friday.
Military officials of both nations, meanwhile, held a third day of working-level talks of their already established General Border Committee at a checkpoint between Cambodia’s Pailin province and Thailand’s Chanthaburi province.
The committee meeting is expected to conclude on Saturday, when Thai and Cambodian defense ministers are anticipated to join and formalize an agreement.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Friday that Thailand expected Cambodia to agree to a 72-hour ceasefire, and if it was successfully implemented, Thailand would consider repatriating Cambodian prisoners of war, a major demand.
Thailand has lost 26 soldiers and one civilian as a direct result of the combat since Dec. 7, according to officials. Thailand has also reported 44 civilian deaths from collateral effects of the situation. Cambodia hasn't issued an official figure on military casualties, but says that 30 civilians have been killed and 90 injured.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from affected areas on both sides of the border.
Trump spoke by phone with the Thai and Cambodian prime ministers on Dec. 12 and claimed on social media that they had agreed to revive their ceasefire. Anutin denied such an agreement and fighting continued.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed in a call this week to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet that Washington is prepared “to facilitate discussions to ensure peace and stability” between Cambodia and Thailand, the U.S. State Department said.
Amid the fighting, Thai media this week have highlighted the rescue of five malnourished wild animals — a male lion, a lioness, a sun bear and two Asiatic black bears — from a casino allegedly serving as a Cambodian military stronghold that was captured on Sunday by Thai marines.
The animals were sedated and transported to wildlife breeding centers in Thailand, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation told The Associated Press on Friday. Arriving at their new homes by Christmas, the lioness was named “Merry” and the lion “Christmas” to celebrate their rescue.
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Sopheng Cheang contributed to this report from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
