Thai fighter jet bombs Cambodian targets as border battle escalates
By
Panarat Thepgumpanat,
Chantha Lach and
Panu Wongcha-um
BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH, July 24 (Reuters) - Thailand scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to bomb targets in Cambodia on Thursday after artillery volleys from both sides killed at least 11 civilians, as border tension boiled over into rare armed conflict between the Southeast Asian countries.
Both blamed each other for starting a morning clash at a disputed area of the border, which quickly escalated from small arms fire to heavy shelling in at least six locations 209 kilometres (130 miles) apart along a frontier where sovereignty has been disputed
for more than a century.
Thailand positioned six F-16 fighter jets in an uncommon combat deployment, one of which was mobilised to strike a Cambodian military target, among measures Cambodia's foreign ministry called "reckless and brutal military aggression".
Thailand's military said the use of air power was to strike with precision.
The worst fighting between the countries in 13 years came after Thailand on Wednesday
recalled its ambassador to Phnom Penh and expelled Cambodia's envoy, in response to a second Thai soldier losing a limb to a landmine that Bangkok alleged had been laid recently by rival troops, an accusation Cambodia called baseless.
The United States, a long-time treaty ally of Thailand, called for an immediate end to hostilities.
"We are ... gravely concerned by the escalating violence along the Thailand Cambodia border, and deeply saddened by reports of harm to civilians," the State Department's deputy spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, told a regular news briefing.
"The United States urges an immediate cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians and a peaceful resolution of the conflict," he said.
The two countries have been
braced for conflict since the
killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish, with troops reinforced on both sides of the border amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand's fragile coalition government to the
brink of collapse.
Thailand said there were 12 fatalities in three Thai provinces, 11 of them civilians, including an eight-year-old boy. Authorities said 31 people were hurt on Thursday. The number of Cambodian casualties was unclear.
"We condemn this - using heavy weapons without a clear target, outside of conflict zones... the use of force and did not adhere to international law," Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters.
"We remain committed to peaceful means and there should be discussions, but what happened was a provocation and we had to defend ourselves."
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-...n-targets-border-battle-escalates-2025-07-24/
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