A fragile truce between Thailand and Cambodia has disintegrated, with renewed violence claiming at least one life and wounding multiple civilians along the contested frontier. The breakdown comes just weeks after an internationally-brokered ceasefire aimed at halting hostilities.
The agreement, signed in October under international mediation, began unraveling after a Thai soldier sustained severe injuries from a landmine explosion near the border on Monday. Thai authorities immediately accused Cambodian forces of planting the device and announced they were suspending their participation in the peace arrangement.
Within forty-eight hours, exchanges of gunfire were reported between Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province and Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province. Cambodian officials confirmed one civilian fatality and three injuries in Prey Chan village, with Prime Minister Hun Manet condemning the violence as contrary to “humanitarian spirit and recent agreements.”
Local residents described terrifying moments as gunfire erupted without warning. “They just shot at us. We did nothing,” one Cambodian villager reported while fleeing the area. “I am so frightened.”
Thai military spokespersons countered that their forces only responded after Cambodian troops fired into Thai territory first.
The current confrontation revives a centuries-old territorial dispute centered on colonial-era border demarcations and contested ancient temples. While the October ceasefire temporarily halted fighting that displaced 300,000 people last summer, it failed to address the underlying border disagreements.
Thailand’s prime minister visited border troops Tuesday, declaring the peace arrangement effectively terminated, though foreign ministry officials later clarified the nation had merely paused implementation rather than formally withdrawing from the agreement.
The renewed violence underscores the persistent instability along this historically contested frontier, where brief periods of calm have repeatedly given way to armed confrontation.
