Weeks of tensions erupt across Thailand-Cambodia border as at least nine people killed in clashes
Thailand and Cambodia have both said a Thai F-16 fighter jet bombed targets on the Cambodia side of the border on Thursday, and both sides have accused each other of igniting a clash, Reuters has reported.
The Thai army has said one of six fighter jets readied to deploy along the border fired into Cambodia and destroyed a military target.
Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon has told reporters the military used 'air power against military targets as planned'.
Meanwhile, Cambodia's defence ministry has said it "strongly condemns the reckless and brutal military aggression' from Thailand and claimed jets had dropped two bombs on a road.
The clashes began early on Thursday near the disputed Ta Moan Thom temple along the border, around 360 km east of Bangkok.
Nine people have been killed across three border provinces, including an 8-year-old boy in Surin, according to a Thai military statement.
District chief of Kabcheing in Surin province Sutthirot Charoenthanasak told Reuters that district authorities had evacuated 40,000 civilians from 86 villages near the border.
The escalation of tensions comes after Thailand recalled its ambassador to Cambodia late on Wednesday - a move made after a second Thai soldier lost a limb due to landmines in the space of a week.
Thailand's foreign ministry then said Cambodian forces had fired 'heavy artillery' on a Thai military base on Thursday morning and targeted civilian areas, leading to civilian casualties.
"The Royal Thai Government is prepared to intensify our self-defence measures if Cambodia persists in its armed attack and violations upon Thailand's sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement.
Thai residents, including children and elderly people, ran to concrete shelters in the Surin border province.
Cambodia's foreign ministry said Thailand's air strikes were "unprovoked" and called on the neighboring country to withdraw its forces and "refrain from any further provocative actions that could escalate the situation".
Cambodia and Thailand have disputed points along their 817-km border for decades, resulting in skirmishes including a week-long exchange of artillery in 2011.
The Department of Foreign Affairs' Smartraveller website advises travellers to Cambodia that all land border crossing points along the Cambodia-Thailand border are closed due to an ongoing dispute.
Meanwhile, Smartraveller's Thailand travel advice says Australians should exercise a high degree of caution in the country, and that the security situation in Thailand 'can be unpredictable'.
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