- Army received reports of attack on soldiers with firearms: Thai army.
- Thailand begins to “use aircraft to attack military targets in various areas.”
- Cambodia alleges that Thailand fired “multiple shots at the Tamone Thom temple.”
Thailand launched airstrikes against neighboring Cambodia on Monday, the Thai military said, with both sides blaming each other for the latest outbreak of fighting on their disputed border that killed a Thai soldier.
After Cambodian troops fired on Thai forces early Monday morning in Ubon Ratchathani province, “the army received reports that Thai soldiers were attacked with supporting firearms, resulting in one soldier killed and four wounded,” Thai army spokesman Winthai Suvaree said in a statement.
Winthai also said Thailand had begun “using aircraft to attack military targets in several areas” to suppress attacks by Cambodian forces.
Cambodian Defense Ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata said Thai forces launched an attack on Cambodian troops in the border provinces of Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey early Monday morning, accusing Thailand of “firing multiple tank shots at the Tamone Thom temple” and other areas near the Preah Vihear temple.
He said Cambodia did not retaliate.
Met Measpheakdey, Cambodian spokesman for the Oddar Meanchey provincial administration, said gunshots were reported in the areas of the centuries-old temples of Tamone Thom and Ta Krabei, and that “a number of villagers living near the border are fleeing to safety.”
Thailand’s Second Army Region said in a statement that around 35,000 people in Thailand have been evacuated from areas along the border with Cambodia since fighting resumed.
Both sides reported a brief skirmish on Sunday, which the Thai military said left two soldiers injured.
Five days of fighting broke out this summer between Thailand and Cambodia, killing 43 people and displacing about 300,000 before a truce took effect.
