
Landmine blast wounds Thai soldiers on tense Cambodia border
BANGKOK : A landmine blast today wounded three Thai soldiers on patrol near the border with Cambodia, days after the two sides agreed a ceasefire to end their deadliest military clashes in decades.
The blast occurred in Sisaket province at around 10am, the Royal Thai Military said in a statement.
One soldier suffered a severe leg injury, another was wounded in the back and arm, and the third had extreme pressure damage to the ear.
The incident came after at least 43 people were killed in a five-day conflict that ended on July 29 following a long-running dispute over border temples.
The clashes – involving jets, artillery, rockets and infantry battles – ended with a ceasefire, after cajoling by US President Donald Trump.
A meeting of defence officials in Kuala Lumpur ended on Thursday with a deal to extend the ceasefire.
Thailand's acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai was in neighbouring Surin province today and has ordered the military to ensure the wounded soldiers receive full medical treatment.
Last month's clashes along the 800km border forced more than 300,000 people to flee combat areas on both sides of the border.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Malaysia-led team investigating transparency of Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire
GEMAS: The Malaysia-led Interim Observer Team (IOT) plays a key role in investigating the transparency of the ceasefire along the Thailand-Cambodia border, said armed forces chief Gen Tan Sri Mohd Nizam Jaffar. "We have received reports from both countries of several ceasefire violations. "The team on the ground will investigate these main aim is to ensure that the ceasefire is implemented transparently and runs smoothly. "We have also requested Thailand and Cambodia to liaise with the Joint Action Group from both countries, including the legal section and others," he told reporters after witnessing the 2025 Firepower Training at Syed Sirajuddin Camp here today. Also present were Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari and Chief of Army Gen Tan Sri Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan. Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to strictly observe a ceasefire along their shared border, with both sides maintaining current troop positions while also refraining from any further reinforcements. According to the Agreed Minutes of the Extraordinary General Border Committee (GBC) Meeting issued after the Extraordinary GBC Meeting on Aug 7, both sides must avoid unprovoked firing towards the other side's positions or troops, which may escalate tensions. Meanwhile, Mohd Nizam said the IOT is currently holding meetings with Thailand and Cambodia at least twice a week to monitor and report on the latest developments in the area concerned. He said Malaysia is always ready to send representatives at the next stage after the IOT, namely the Asean Defence Attaché Observer Team (AOT), to both countries. – Bernama


Free Malaysia Today
7 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Greece air-drops food aid over Gaza
Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over the Central Gaza Strip as seen from Khan Younis. (AP pic) ATHENS : Greece on Saturday joined EU countries in dropping food aid over Gaza, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. 'This morning, two aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force dropped 8.5 tonnes of essential food supplies in areas of Gaza,' Mitsotakis said on Facebook. 'The operation was organised in collaboration with countries from the EU and the Middle East, aiming to support the basic needs of people in the afflicted region.' 'Greece will continue to undertake initiatives for the immediate cessation of hostilities, the release of hostages, and the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. It is the duty of all of us to put an end to human suffering immediately,' he said. Western countries including Britain, France, and Spain have recently partnered with Middle Eastern nations to deliver humanitarian supplies by air to the Palestinian enclave. But the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees Philippe Lazzarini has warned that airdrops alone would not avert the worsening hunger. The UN estimates that Gaza needs at least 600 trucks of aid per day to meet residents' basic needs. Concern has escalated about the situation in the Gaza Strip after more than 21 months of war, which started after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a deadly attack against Israel in October 2023. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure to secure a ceasefire to bring the territory's more than two million people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian militants. But early Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approved plans to launch major operations to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave of outrage across the globe.


Free Malaysia Today
7 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Gaza war deepens Israel's divides
Families of the Israeli hostages have accused prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war artificially to strengthen his own political position. (AFP pic) TEL AVIV : As it grinds on well into its twenty-second month, Israel's war in Gaza has set friends and families against one another and sharpened existing political and cultural divides. Hostage families and peace activists want prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to secure a ceasefire with Hamas and free the remaining captives abducted during the October 2023 Hamas attacks. Right-wing members of Netanyahu's cabinet, meanwhile, want to seize the moment to occupy and annex more Palestinian land, at the risk of sparking further international criticism. The debate has divided the country and strained private relationships, undermining national unity at Israel's moment of greatest need in the midst of its longest war. 'As the war continues we become more and more divided,' said Emanuel Yitzchak Levi, a 29-year-old poet, schoolteacher and peace activist from Israel's religious left who attended a peace meeting at Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square. 'It's really hard to keep being a friend, or family, a good son, a good brother to someone that's – from your point of view – supporting crimes against humanity,' he told AFP. 'And I think it's also hard for them to support me if they think I betrayed my own country.' As if to underline this point, a tall, dark-haired cyclist angered by the gathering pulled up his bike to shout 'traitors' at the attendees and to accuse activists of playing into Hamas's hands. No flowers Dvir Berko, a 36-year-old worker at one of the city's many IT startups, paused his scooter journey across downtown Tel Aviv to share a more reasoned critique of the peace activists' call for a ceasefire. Berko and others accused international bodies of exaggerating the threat of starvation in Gaza, and he told AFP that Israel should withhold aid until the remaining 49 hostages are freed. 'The Palestinian people, they're controlled by Hamas. Hamas takes their food. Hamas starts this war and, in every war that happens, bad things are going to happen. You're not going to send the other side flowers,' he argued. 'So, if they open a war, they should realise and understand what's going to happen after they open the war.' The raised voices in Tel Aviv reflect a deepening polarisation in Israeli society since Hamas's October 2023 attacks left 1,219 people dead, independent journalist Meron Rapoport told AFP. Rapoport, a former senior editor at liberal daily Haaretz, noted that Israel had been divided before the latest conflict, and had even seen huge anti-corruption protests against Netanyahu and perceived threats to judicial independence. Hamas's attack initially triggered a wave of national unity, but as the conflict has dragged on and Israel's conduct has come under international criticism, attitudes on the right and left have diverged and hardened. Political motives 'The moment Hamas acted there was a coming together,' Rapoport said. 'Nearly everyone saw it as a just war. 'As the war went on it has made people come to the conclusion that the central motivations are not military reasons but political ones.' According to a survey conducted between July 24 and 28 by the Institute for National Security Studies, with 803 Jewish and 151 Arab respondents, Israelis narrowly see Hamas as primarily to blame for the delay in reaching a deal on freeing the hostages. Only 24% of Israeli Jews are distressed or 'very distressed' by the humanitarian situation in Gaza – where, according to UN-mandated reports, 'a famine is unfolding' and Palestinian civilians are often killed while seeking food. But there is support for the families of the Israeli hostages, many of whom have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war artificially to strengthen his own political position. 'In Israel there's a mandatory army service,' said Mika Almog, 50, an author and peace activist with the It's Time Coalition. 'So these soldiers are our children and they are being sent to die in a false criminal war that is still going on for nothing other than political reasons.' In an open letter published Monday, 550 former top diplomats, military officers and spy chiefs urged US President Donald Trump to tell Netanyahu that the military stage of the war was already won and he must now focus on a hostage deal. 'At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war,' said Ami Ayalon, former director of the Shin Bet security service. The conflict 'is leading the State of Israel to lose its security and identity', he warned in a video released to accompany the letter. This declaration by the security officers – those who until recently prosecuted Israel's overt and clandestine wars – echoed the views of the veteran peace activists that have long protested against them. 'Awful period' Biblical archaeologist and kibbutz resident Avi Ofer is 70 years old and has long campaigned for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He and fellow activists wore yellow ribbons with the length in days of the war written on it: '667'. The rangy historian was close to tears as he told AFP: 'This is the most awful period in my life.' 'Yes, Hamas are war criminals. We know what they do. The war was justified at first. At the beginning it was not a genocide,' he said. Not many Israelis use the term 'genocide', but they are aware that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is considering whether to rule on a complaint that the country has breached the Genocide Convention. While only a few are anguished about the threat of starvation and violence hanging over their neighbours, many are worried that Israel may become an international pariah – and that their conscript sons and daughters be treated like war crimes suspects when abroad. Israel and Netanyahu – with support from the US – have denounced the case in The Hague.