Cambodians flee border with Thailand as clashes continue for third day

As a Cambodian soldier patiently waited his turn for surgery to remove shrapnel embedded in his body from a Thai artillery shell, explosions reverberated in the distance along the Thai-Cambodia border.

Along the disputed border that separates Oddar Meanchey from Surin, the soldier claimed to have been injured in a fight with Thai troops on Friday near the famed Ta Moan Thom temple.

“I have shrapnel in my back, but it hasn’t been taken out yet.” The soldier, who was seated next to his wife and son in a hospital corridor bed and was seated on the floor next to him, said, “I need surgery.”

The soldier remarked, “They first took me to the military hospital, but they didn’t have an X-ray machine.”

My clothes were blown off when I was struck, he continued.

Another Cambodian soldier who was injured told how he had taken shrapnel to his left shoulder while fighting nearby the Ta Krabei temple, another disputed location on the Thai-Cambodia border.

Soon after the clashes broke out Thursday, Cambodia claims to have regained control of the areas around Ta Moan and Ta Krabei, along with six other disputed sites. That assertion was unable to be independently verified.

The temples have long been a hotspot for disputed territorial claims, just like many other locations along the more than 800km (500 miles) of the border between these two Southeast Asian neighbors.

The 11th-century Preah Vihear Hindu temple, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the site of the most recent major border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia in 2011.

More than 30 people have been confirmed killed along the border as of Saturday afternoon, the majority of them civilians.

Authorities claim that at least 13 people have died in Cambodia, and 20 have reportedly died in Thailand.

In the three days of fighting, bombs were also dropped on civil infrastructure on both sides of the border.

We “went for our lives,” the statement read.

The artillery and rocket fire clashes along the Cambodian border have forced people to flee.

A displaced Cambodian villager who fled her home in Oddar Meanchey, which is located about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Thai border, said Chheng Deab, “I miss my home.”

Chheng Deab described how she left her house after receiving a call from the local authorities, and how she is now sheltered with her children at a primary school without violence along with dozens of other families who have fled the border region.

We’ll move if the shooting continues,” the leader declared. We’re not sure when it will come to an end, she said.

Food is already running low for the displaced people, and more people are worried about the fate of their farms, livestock, and homes, which are essential lifeline in Cambodia’s impoverished border regions.

Families told Al Jazeera that they had already briefly left Thailand for good, despite the danger, just to tend to their livestock and take things home.

The majority of respondents said food is now their most pressing need right now.

Chheng Deab said, “We haven’t left much food.”

We won’t have anything to eat if this persists.

Many displaced Cambodians said their support from the government had been constrained, and that many people at a second site expressed the same concerns.

Residents have been putting together rice and other supplies to aid one another, according to a village chief there.

A day before the fighting broke out, a woman, who requested anonymity, recalls her escape. She claimed that some members of her community had been working in fields when Thai military bombs started to pour down.

The Thais have bombed the most of the area’s “Samraong district,” in Oddar Meanchey. She told Al Jazeera, “We ran for our lives and couldn’t take everything we needed.”

Thailand-Cambodia tit-for-tat escalation

About 140, 000 Thai civilians have fled or been ejected from their homes, according to local officials, with the fighting reportedly robbing and spreading to many locations along the border.

Eight of the Thai military’s border districts have also declared martial law.

Around 38, 000 people have been displaced from their homes in Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey, and Pursat provinces in Cambodia.

A Cambodian soldier was killed in a brief exchange of gunfire with Thai troops in May, which ended the long-running border disputes between the two countries, some of which date back more than a century.

Tensions erupted earlier this week when Thai soldiers were hurt by landmines in the disputed border zone between the two nations after months of trading punitive tit-for-trade and diplomatic measures.

Thailand accused Cambodian troops of ostensibly burying new mines. Cambodia’s government vehemently refuted this claim, claiming that the mines were left over from the 1980s and 1990s civil war.

Thailand fired its ambassador and expelled the ambassador from Cambodia. In response, Phnom Penh fired its diplomats, which negatively impacted diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On Thursday morning, direct fighting broke out, with both parties sharing responsibility for the first shots fired.

On Friday, there were sporadic but intense exchanges of machinegun, missile, and artillery fire across the border in Oddar Meanchey province, the site of the most bloody fighting on the Cambodian side.

Thailand has also accused Cambodia of using cluster munitions, which are prohibited by international treaties, while Thailand has also accused it of repeatedly firing long-range rockets into civilian areas, including a hospital.

Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, said he thought Cambodia might have committed war crimes as a result of its alleged attacks on civilians.

Hun Manet, the prime minister of Cambodia, claims that Thailand’s armed forces carried out “unprovoked, premeditated, and deliberate attacks.”

Authorities on both sides of the border appear to be making preparations for what might turn out to be an extended conflict as both leaders are eager to portray the other as the aggressor.

Source: Aljazeera