PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A gunfight broke out between Thai and Cambodian troops at a disputed border zone Wednesday, escalating a conflict that officials from both sides fear could result in a war between the neighbors.
Cambodian army commander Brig. Gen. Yim Pim said the fighting stopped about an hour after it began while commanders from both sides tried to negotiate a cease-fire. There were no casualties on the Cambodian side, he said.
(Reuters reports: Two Cambodian soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire, which appeared to last for at least an hour, a Defense Ministry official said. Cambodian forces had also surrounded at least a dozen Thai soldiers, he added without giving more details.
There was no immediate word on Thai casualties. The Nation newspaper reports that one Cambodian soldier was killed, four Thai soldiers wounded).
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said seven Thai paramilitary troops were wounded in the gunfight. Yim Pim said there were no casualties among Cambodian troops.
Each side said the other fired first.
It was not immediately clear how many troops were engaged in the shooting. But Lt. Col. Pichit Nakkarun, Thailand's field commander in the area, said before the clash that Thailand was reinforcing its forces in the area.
The clash came a day after Cambodia's prime minister issued an ultimatum to Thailand to pull back its soldiers from disputed territory near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.
Thailand's Foreign Ministry said it had prepared aircraft in case an order comes down to evacuate its citizens from Cambodia. There are an estimated 1,000 Thais in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, and 500 in the city of Siem Reap.
The conflict is the latest flare-up in a decades-long dispute over a contested stretch of jungle near the Preah Vihear temple. The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over some surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.
Tensions flared July 15 after UNESCO, the U.N. agency, approved Cambodia's bid to have the Preah Vihear temple named a World Heritage Site, leading some in Thailand to fear that its claims over the nearby land would be undermined.
Cambodia deployed about 800 troops to the border after the UNESCO decision, and Thailand sent some 400 soldiers. Both sides pulled back most of their troops in late August, but passions flared again recently.
A brief gunfight broke out between the sides earlier this month, with one Cambodian and two Thai soldiers wounded. Three days later, two Thai soldiers lost legs when they stepped on land mines.
Associated Press Writers Jocelyn Gecker and Ambika Ahuja in Bangkok, Thailand contributed to this report.
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