Fighting breaks out between Thai and Cambodian troops (Roundup)

Phnom Penh/Bangkok - Cambodian and Thai forces engaged in several hours of shelling and gunfire Friday on disputed ground near an 11th-century Hindu temple on Cambodia's northern border.

Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesman, said military commanders on both sides would meet late Friday to ensure there was no further violence.

He said he had no information on casualty figures on the Cambodian side.

Earlier, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported 'two or three' Thai soldiers had been wounded, citing a military source.

Each side blamed the other for sparking the violence, which followed hard on the heels of pledges by both nations' foreign ministers earlier in the day to work to avoid conflict.

Phay Siphan claimed fighting had started after Thai troops crossed into Cambodian territory and said more than 100 Thai artillery shells later landed in a civilian area.

'A report from the battlefield said they used 105 mm artillery and shelled into Svay Chum commune, a civilian target with no military presence,' he said, adding that all civilians had since left the area.

He said Cambodian forces had captured four Thai soldiers during clashes and that the four were being well treated.

Earlier, a Thai military spokesman said 'a misunderstanding' was likely behind the fighting. Colonel Sansern Keowkhamnerd said Thailand had fired artillery shells in response to Cambodian shelling of Thai territory.

'We still don't want to disclose what caused the attack, but I believe it was a misunderstanding,' he said.

Thai radio reports said about 20 Cambodian shells had landed on Thailand's side of the border in Kantalarak district in Si Sa Ket province, 350 kilometres east of Bangkok.

The Thai army was reportedly bulldozing a road in the border area, which has been the subject of numerous spats over the past two and a half years.

Phay Siphan said fighting started at 3 pm (0800 GMT) and continued for more than two hours near disputed land near Preah Vihear temple that has sparked deadly clashes between Thailand and Cambodia before.

He said the nearby Keo Sikha Kirisvara temple, which Thailand claims stands on disputed territory, had been shelled Friday although the extent of the damage was unclear.

Bangkok recently insisted that Phnom Penh remove a Cambodian flag flying over the temple, a demand Foreign Minister Hor Namhong rejected earlier Friday after a meeting with his Thai counterpart.

The clashes came hours after Hor Namhong and Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya wrapped up a meeting stating that a recent build-up of troops at the border should not lead to violence.

Thai and Cambodian forces have faced off along the mountain range around the Preah Vihear temple since July 2008 when UNESCO declared the edifice a World Heritage Site despite Thai objections.

Although the World Court on 1962 ruled that the temple belonged to Cambodia, Thailand claims a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjacent to the temple and has blocked Cambodian's efforts to turn the site into a tourism attraction until the border dispute is settled.

 

Feb 4, 2011
DPA and KI