Military clash between Thailand and Cambodia expands along shared border
Cambodia said it was Thai troops who had expanded the conflict, firing into several areas including Cambodia's Pursat province, which borders Trat, according to Maly Socheata, a spokesperson for Cambodia's defense ministry. The Pursat and Trat provinces are about 200 miles south of where the conflict began Thursday.
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Since Friday night, more than 3,000 people from Trat have evacuated, according to Trat TV, a local television station. The province, which borders the Gulf of Thailand, is a popular tourist destination, famed for its numerous islands with white-sand beaches and coral reefs. The fighting is occurring about a 90-minute drive from the ferry terminal where tourists board boats.
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Pornphen, a Thai resident from the Muang district in Trat, said she had fled Friday with her mother-in-law to a friend's house in a central province. Pornphen asked to be identified by only her first name because she has Cambodian relatives and feared for her family's safety.
'I hope the fight can stop now,' she said, speaking by telephone. 'I fear that both sides may lose all the reasoning and be blinded by hatred toward one another. Thais and Cambodians used to be good neighbors. Don't let this be the end.'
Cambodia's defense ministry said that Thai troops had 'expanded their invasion' to other provinces such as Banteay Meanchey. Video footage showed Thai tanks near the Rong Kluea Market area, one of the largest markets near Banteay Meanchey. Cambodia shut down its airspace over areas where there was fighting, according to Sin Chansereyvutha, a spokesperson for Cambodia's State Secretariat of Civil Aviation.
Thailand's army warned that Cambodia had deployed the 'PHL-03 missile,' a missile system capable of firing multiple missiles up to 80 miles from the launch position. Maly Socheata denied this assertion, calling it fake news invented by Thailand.
The Saturday attack came a day after representatives of Cambodia and Thailand spoke at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, with each side accusing the other of escalating the violence.
Both sides appealed to other countries to 'not look away.' More than 131,000 people in Thailand have evacuated from areas along the border, while in Cambodia, 35,000 people have fled their homes.
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'If this conflict escalates, the peace and stability of the entire Southeast Asian region will be at stake,' said Chhea Keo, Cambodia's ambassador to the United Nations.
The United States, China, and Malaysia, which is the current chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, have offered to facilitate talks. But Bangkok wants to negotiate directly.
Malaysia has tried to broker a cease-fire, which Cambodia says must be 'swift and unconditional.' Thailand said it agreed 'in principle' to the deal but accused Cambodia of continuing its 'indiscriminate attacks on Thai territory.'
On Saturday morning, Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister and an influential player in Thai politics, visited evacuees at a shelter in Ubon Ratchathani province.
A public rift between Thaksin and his longtime friend Hun Sen, Cambodia's de facto leader, has inflamed their countries' conflict. On Saturday, Thaksin denied there being any problem between the men, but then said that Hun Sun was the 'type of person that starts things on suspicion, and builds a nationalistic trend in the country beyond the normal level.'
Hun Sen also had unkind words for his old friend. In a Facebook post, he accused Thaksin of 'resorting to war' out of personal revenge, 'the ultimate consequence of which will be the suffering of the people.'
Chairat Jongjaroenlarp, 28, a resident of Trat's Muang district, said he fled his home Saturday morning to his cousin's house in central Thailand.
'I'm glad that I'm safe, but also sad that this clash is getting out of hand,' he said. 'War shouldn't exist in this day and age. Why can't we just be nice and be kind to one another?'
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