Thailand, Cambodia Trade Blame Over Renewed Border Violence
REPORTER:
A sudden explosion sends people scrambling for cover. Thailand and Cambodia are fighting again along their contested border. Blasts like this one are shaking Thai border villages.
While on the other side in Cambodia, scenes of panic like this one, as schoolchildren flee their classrooms.
It marks the end of a truce reached after deadly clashes this summer—one backed by US President Donald Trump.
Both sides are blaming each other. Thailand had earlier accused Cambodia of laying mines on the border. On Monday, it launched airstrikes on its neighbor after it says a Cambodian attack killed a Thai soldier. And it says it won’t back down now.
Thailand's priority is to protect our sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our military action will continue until Thailand's sovereignty and territorial integrity are not being compromised.
But Cambodia says its forces hadn’t retaliated. And it says the Thai moves amount to an attempted land grab, with Thailand expanding attacks to new areas.
The second invasion activity by the Thai side clearly shows their intention to invade, grabbing the neighbor country’s land by using a unilateral map and using force to change the border frontline.
Even regional experts say it’s hard to know what’s really happened.
The problem with this is that, as with every step of this since the summer, both sides are telling very different stories. So the Cambodians deny that they were the ones who started this. And in the absence of any agreed upon international fact-checker or mediator, it's very difficult from the outside to judge these claims.
What is clear is that the fighting is bringing renewed death and misery to the border region. At least three Thai soldiers are dead. And Cambodia says at least seven of its civilians have been killed.
For the second time this year, people on both sides of the border have had to flee their homes and find shelter where they can. These Thai civilians have taken cover in a bunker.
While this convoy of Cambodian evacuees is leaving for safety on scooters and tractors, taking what they can with them.
The UN wants to get the two sides back on the path towards peace.
It's important that both Thailand and Cambodia do whatever they can to de-escalate and to return to the framework that was signed in Kuala Lumpur just a few months ago on October 26.
But the border conflict goes back over a century. And the latest fighting is a test of whether diplomacy can hold out over what both sides see as a matter of national importance.
02:15
03:07
03:25
03:01
00:42
00:30
02:42
02:54
03:24
02:06
00:32
00:29
00:30
03:50
03:09
04:36