At Least 16 People Dead as Thailand’s Clashes With Cambodia Enter Second Day

Asia Pacific|At Least 16 People Dead as Thailand’s Clashes With Cambodia Enter Second Day

Cambodia and Thailand showed no signs of backing down on Friday in their conflict along their border, their deadliest clashes in at least a decade.

As the fighting entered a second day, gunshots rang out in the predawn hours on the Cambodian side of the border in Oddar Meanchey Province. On the Thai side, civilians in Surin Province fled to an evacuation site.

A soldier and 14 civilians have died in Thailand, according to Thailand’s Health Ministry. One person in Cambodia was killed in the fighting, Met Measpheakday, a spokesman for Oddar Meanchey province, said on Friday.

Maly Socheata, a spokeswoman for the Cambodian Defense Ministry, said Thailand had fired at seven sites in Cambodia on Friday.

The last time that Cambodia and Thailand fired on each other’s territories was during a three-year border conflict that ended in 2011 and killed people on both sides of the border.

The current clashes erupted on Thursday with an exchange of fire near Prasat Ta Muen Thom, an ancient temple claimed by both nations. It followed two months of tensions over contested territory that began in late May after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a skirmish.

Each nation has accused the other of striking first on Thursday and expelled the other’s ambassadors, clouding the prospects of a quick diplomatic resolution. On Friday, a Cambodian military truck carrying ammunition for cannons was seen heading toward the disputed temple.

China, the largest trading partner for both Cambodia and Thailand, was “deeply concerned” about the conflict and had been working to promote peace and facilitate peace talks, Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said at a Thursday news briefing. The French Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, called on both nations to immediately cease hostilities.

Overnight, two politicians who wield influence in Cambodia and Thailand directly addressed each other on social media. Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister of Thailand, wrote that former Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia, the country’s de facto leader, “needed to be taught a lesson” by the Thai military.

“Thaksin’s remarks further underscore Thailand’s military aggression toward Cambodia,” Mr. Hun Sen responded.

Mr. Thaksin and Mr. Hun Sen previously had close ties, and their children are serving as the prime ministers of their countries. Mr. Thaksin’s daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, however, is currently suspended from office.

In June, Mr. Hun Sen leaked a private phone call with Prime Minister Shinawatra about the border tensions. Her deferential tone toward Mr. Hun Sen caused outrage in Thailand, and this month the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended Ms. Paetongtarn from office while it reviews a petition for her removal.

Kittiphum Sringammuangcontributed reporting from Bangkok.