Thailand-Cambodia border clashes enter third day as 500,000 flee fighting

Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has continued for a third day, with cross-border shelling and air raids forcing more than half a million civilians to flee their homes and seek shelter, according to authorities.

Officials from the two Southeast Asian neighbours on Wednesday also accused each other of restarting the conflict that has killed at least 13 soldiers and civilians so far this week and led more than 500,000 people from both sides of the border to evacuate for safety.
“More than 400,000 people have been moved to safe shelters” across seven provinces, Thailand’s Ministry of Defence spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri told reporters at a news conference.

“Civilians have had to evacuate in large numbers due to what we assessed as an imminent threat to their safety,” he said.

The Thai military also reported that rockets fired from Cambodia had landed near the Phanom Dong Rak Hospital in Surin on Wednesday morning, prompting patients and hospital staff to take cover in a bunker.

In neighbouring Cambodia, “101,229 people have been evacuated to safe shelters and relatives’ homes in five provinces”, Cambodian Ministry of National Defence spokeswoman Maly Socheata said.

Cambodianess, a website operated by the Cambodian Media Broadcasting Corporation, reported that Thai F-16 jets had attacked two areas in the country, while Thai shelling continued in three other areas.

Thailand’s Matichon Online news portal also reported that the country’s military had deployed F-16s to attack “one Cambodian military target” along the border on Wednesday morning.
Cambodian rockets and artillery fire also targeted 12 front-line areas in four Thai provinces early in the morning, according to Thailand’s The Nation newspaper, citing military sources. There were no immediate reports on casualties.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Surin province in Thailand, said the Thai military reported earlier on Wednesday that fighting took place in almost all of the provinces bordering Cambodia.

In Surin province alone, there were reports of exchanges of fire in five different locations, McBride said, adding that many thousands have evacuated.

“Most people have left here,” he said.

“Hundreds of thousands of people now on both sides of the border have sought refuge as they have done in the past and as the fighting continues,” he added.

“The Thais have been saying that they do want peace. But they said peace has to come with what they call security and safety of Thai people. As the attacks are continuing, they have not achieved that yet,” McBride said.