Thailand and Cambodia have reported fresh fighting in an ongoing border dispute as talks between the two sides begin for the first time since the recent outbreak of violence.
Thai media said on Wednesday that clashes had broken out in the border provinces of Sisaket and Surin, with the Thai military responding to Cambodian BM-21 rocket attacks with artillery, tank shelling and drones.
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According to the Thai military, one Thai soldier was injured in the Fa Moi Daeng-Huay Ta Malia area of Si Saket province before Thai troops counterattacked and attacked more than 19 Cambodian military targets.
The Cambodian Ministry of Defense announced that the Thai military conducted an air raid on the Banan district in the northwestern border province of Battambang, firing four bombs into civilian residential areas.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Education also released a video showing scenes of panic at schools in the province as students evacuated during the air raids.
The ministry also announced that two civilians were injured by Thai artillery fire in Banteay Meanchey province, the Khmer Times reported.
negotiations begin
The latest fighting occurred just before a meeting of defense officials began at the Ban Pakkad Pailin border crossing between the two countries on Wednesday.
The talks will be the first for both sides since fresh clashes erupted on December 7 that left more than 40 people dead and around 1 million people displaced, according to official figures.
The two countries agreed on Monday to hold talks within the framework of an existing bilateral border commission, the Cambodia-Thailand Comprehensive Border Commission, following regional calls for an end to the fighting.
Reporting from Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, Al Jazeera’s Ased Baig said that while meetings are underway with ASEAN countries acting as observers, no major progress is expected.
“It’s very important to be clear about what this meeting is and isn’t. It’s between defense officials and military officials, not politicians,” he said.
“This is not a place where a ceasefire can be agreed or signed.”
He said the talks would, at best, “stabilize the situation, clarify the case between the parties and keep the lines of communication open.”
Any agreement on a ceasefire would have to come from political leaders in Bangkok and Phnom Penh, he said, “and that’s where external pressure comes in.”
The United States, China, and ASEAN countries had been holding talks with both countries to seek a resolution to the dispute.
But so far, “both sides are still locked in a blame game,” he said.
Thailand and Cambodia continue to exchange daily rocket and artillery fire along their 817-kilometre (508-mile) land border after a cease-fire brokered by the United States and Malaysia that ended five days of fighting in July collapsed earlier this month.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the demarcation of an 800-kilometer (500-mile) colonial-era border and a small number of ancient temple sites located on the frontier.
Both sides have condemned the attacks on civilians, claimed self-defense and accused the other of inciting new fighting.
Thailand charged with vandalizing Hindu statues
Meanwhile, Cambodian officials have accused Thailand of destroying Hindu statues in border dispute areas and condemned the destruction of items of religious significance.
Kim Champanya, a government spokesman in the border province of Preah Vihear, said a statue of Lord Vishnu built in 2014 was destroyed by Thai forces on Monday.
“We condemn the destruction of ancient temples and statues worshiped by followers of Buddhism and Hinduism,” Champagna said.
A video showing a backhoe loader being used to destroy a statue went viral on social media.
The Thai military has not commented on the incident, but issued a statement denying Cambodian claims that it used cluster munitions to harm civilians.
The statement said the company’s cluster munitions are dual-purpose artillery shells used against military targets in line with the principles of “military necessity” and “proportionality.”
It added that the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which bans the use of such weapons by signatory states, does not apply because neither Thailand nor Cambodia are parties to the agreement.
