Cambodia-Thailand border clashes enter second week

PHNOM PENH

Renewed border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand entered a second week on Sunday after Bangkok denied U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that a truce had been agreed to halt the deadly fighting.

The conflict, rooted in a colonial-era demarcation dispute along their 800-kilometer border, has displaced around 800,000 people, officials said.

"I have been here for six days and I feel sad that the fighting continues," 63-year-old Sean Leap told AFP at an evacuation center in Cambodia's border province of Banteay Meanchey yesterday.

"I want it to stop," he said, adding he was worried about his home and livestock.

At least 25 people have been killed, including 14 Thai soldiers and 11 Cambodian civilians, officials said.

Each side blames the other for instigating the clashes, claiming self-defense and trading accusations of attacks on civilians.

Trump, who earlier backed a truce and follow-on agreement, said on Dec. 12 the Southeast Asian neighbors had agreed to halt fighting.

But Thai leaders later said no ceasefire deal was made, and both governments said yesterday morning clashes were ongoing.

Thai Defense Ministry spokesman Surasant Kongsiri said Cambodia shelled and bombed several border provinces overnight.

Cambodia's Defense Ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata, meanwhile, said Thailand continued to fire mortars and bombs into border areas since midnight.

After Trump's promised truce did not come to pass, Cambodia shut its border crossings with Thailand on Dec. 13, leaving migrant workers stranded.

Amid the fighting, the Thai military has imposed an overnight curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. in parts of Sa Kaeo and Trat provinces.

The United States, China and Malaysia, as chair of the regional bloc ASEAN, brokered a ceasefire in July.