Thai online users shared edited report about Cambodia landmine incident
"Cambodian soldiers planted a mine, but one stepped on it himself and was seriously injured," reads a Thai-language X post shared on July 14, 2025.
The post includes a 14-second video that shows several uniformed personnel helping someone lying on the ground, with a chyron that reads: "Shocking! Cambodian soldier steps on their own landmine, loses leg".
The posts emerged as a long-standing border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia escalated into a deadly clash in May 2025, killing one Cambodian soldier (archived link).
The incident soured relations between Phnom Penh and Bangkok -- causing the closure of border crossings as Cambodia banned fuel and gas imports from Thailand (archived link).
Image
Screenshot of the false X post, taken on July 15, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
Cambodia media reported that as the border dispute heats up, its army trained border soldiers in mine detection and demining techniques (archived link).
The same claim has also been shared in an X post and on TikTok.
But the original news segment shows officials tending to an injured Thai woman two years ago.
A reverse image search on Google led to a longer YouTube video published by Thai broadcaster Channel 7 News on May 28, 2023 (archived link).
The footage matches the video in the false post at the
Image
Screenshot comparison between the false X post (left) and the YouTube video by Channel 7 News
The original headline reads: "Officials rush to help Thai woman in Sa Kaeo after stepping on a landmine -- severed foot, heavy bleeding."
Corresponding news reports by local media say the 46-year-old Thai woman was injured by a landmine while foraging in the Thai-Cambodian border area, losing her left foot (archived here and here).
AFP observed the Thai-language news chyron in the clip contained misspellings and formatting inconsistencies, indicating it was digitally manipulated. The original text was replaced to suggest the incident involved Cambodian forces.
Image
Screenshot of the false X post, with red rectangle added by AFP to highlight the altered news chyron
Khmer Times also reported that a Cambodian soldier was also injured while trying to save the Thai woman in the same incident (archived link).
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Cambodia-Thailand border dispute.
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