Thailand launches airstrikes on Cambodia in new wave of violence

Bangkok: Thailand said it used F-16 fighter jets to bomb Cambodian military targets Monday to retaliate against cross-border firing that killed at least one Thai soldier, in a sharp escalation of a dispute between the two nations that President Donald Trump claimed to have ended.

Each side accused the other of firing first, just as they had earlier this year when a deadly armed conflict between the neighbors raged for five days.

Thailand said its airstrikes hit military installations in Cambodia, but it was not immediately clear how much damage they had caused. The Thai military said it was retaliating against an attack by Cambodia that killed at least one Thai soldier and injured eight others in a border province earlier in the day.

Cambodia said the Thai jets attacked around 9 am, adding that the Thai armed forces had "engaged in numerous provocative actions for many days, with the objective of instigating confrontations."

The strikes came nearly a month after Thailand pulled out of peace talks with Cambodia. Trump has taken credit for ending the earlier fighting, in which at least 40 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced. But Monday's fighting was a reminder of how intractable the rift between Cambodia and Thailand is.

The neighbors share a nearly 500-mile long boundary but large parts of it are undefined; some of the most fraught areas are home to centuries-old temples.

Monday's hostilities followed an exchange of fire the previous day that did not appear to be deadly. Still, on Sunday, officials ordered residents in four Thai provinces along the border -- Buriram, Surin, Sisaket and Ubon Ratchathani -- to evacuate to shelters. The Thai military said that 70% of people in the four provinces had done so. Videos posted on social media Monday showed Cambodian schoolchildren fleeing the border region on foot.

Thailand's prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, called for a meeting with security agencies at the Government House in Bangkok.

"He has instructed the Ministry of Defense and the armed forces to take all necessary measures to defend Thailand's sovereignty and ensure public safety," said Siripong Angkasakulkiat, the Thai government spokesperson.

Tensions ratcheted up Sunday, when Thailand said that Cambodian troops had opened fire in the Thai province of Sisaket, prompting Thai forces to respond. Two Thai soldiers were injured, Thai authorities said.

Cambodia's Defense Ministry accused Thailand of firing first, into the Cambodian province of Preah Vihear, using handguns, B40 rocket launchers and 60 mm mortars. It said Cambodian forces contacted the Thais and demanded an immediate halt to the firing and that Cambodia had not fired back. The Thai military, it said, then stopped firing within 15 minutes.

But the hostilities resumed Monday.

The Thai army said that Cambodia had opened fire with small arms early in the morning in the Nam Yuen district of Ubon Ratchathani province, killing at least one soldier and injuring eight others.

Later in the day, it said that Cambodian forces had fired BM-21 rockets toward Thai civilian areas in the Ban Kruat district of Buriram province, prompting the Thai airstrikes. It said there were no reports of casualties from the rocket attack.

Maj. Gen. Winthai Suvaree the Thai army spokesperson, said the F-16 airstrikes hit three Cambodian military installations near the border, including a radio tower near the Preah Vihear Temple. Cambodia did not immediately comment on the aftermath of the strikes.

The use of air power by Southeast Asian nations against each other is rare. Thailand's deployment of F-16s to bomb Cambodian military targets in July was the first time it had used fighter jets in combat in three decades. It was one factor that brought the five-day border war to a halt -- Thailand has a much better-equipped military than Cambodia, which has virtually no operational air force.

The ensuing ceasefire was brokered by the United States and Malaysia. In October, Thailand and Cambodia agreed to let observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, monitor the truce. On Monday, Cambodia said it planned to request an Asean investigation into the latest hostilities.