The two Southeast Asian neighbors’ most bloody military conflict, which saw heavy artillery and rocket fire exchange for a second day on Friday, saw the two countries engage in bloody fighting for the second day.
Acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said to reporters on Friday that the military exchanges might go on the verge of war. He continued, “For the moment, the clashes have involved heavy weapons.”
According to a statement from the Thai military, “Thai forces responded with appropriate supporting fire in accordance with the tactical situation.”
At least 14 civilians and one soldier were killed in Thailand when fighting broke out on Thursday, according to the Thai Ministry of Public Health, and a local provincial official in Oddar Meanchey border province in Cambodia claimed five casualties and five injuries in Thai attacks.
According to the Thai Health Ministry, more than 30 civilians and 15 soldiers were also hurt, while some 100, 672 people from four Thai provinces that border Cambodia were relocated to shelters, according to the Thai Ministry of Interior, according to AFP news agency.
The permanent secretary of the Thai Interior Ministry, Arsit Sampantharat, claimed that Sisaket, Buriram, and Ubon Ratchathani provinces made up the majority of those who were evacuated, while Surin province’s Channel 3 television reported that the rest were from Surin province.
According to officials in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province, about 20 000 people have eluded moving to Thailand’s northern border, according to the Khmer Times news agency.
The Cambodian military’s statement, according to the Khmer Times, was that Thai shelling had also been reported before dawn on Friday.
The Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, was allegedly damaged “substantially” by Thailand’s strikes, according to The Phnom Penh Post’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.
The UN Security Council will hold an urgent meeting on Friday to discuss border fighting, according to diplomatic sources.
Thailand’s military said on Thursday that it was bombing targets in Cambodia with an F-16 fighter jet, while Cambodian forces launched long-range rockets into Thai civilian areas along the Thai border.
The clashes in a tense border region, which quickly turned from small arms fire to heavy shelling, were caused by both countries.
The United States, a long-standing partner of Thailand, has demanded that the hostilities be immediately ended.
China, a close ally of Cambodia, expressed deep concern for the ongoing conflict and said it hoped that dialogue and consultation will help the two countries resolve their differences.
Source: Aljazeera
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