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'Please be calm and patient. We are talking with the senior people in Cambodia and we hope the situation will ease up in a few days,' Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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BANGKOK - THAILAND on Wednesday ordered an additional 140 elite soldiers to deploy to the Cambodian border, after two days of simmering tensions, an army source said.
General Anupong Paojinda ordered the troops not to use force, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He described the move as meant to pressure Cambodia into starting talks on the disputed border near an ancient Hindu temple.
Thailand wants Cambodia to evict villagers who have created a small community in a 4.6-square-kilometre area near the temple that is claimed by both countries, he said.
'The additional 140 troops will work in a temporary outpost to press Cambodian officials to bring the issue to Township Border Committee, so Thailand can push the Cambodian community out of the overlapping area,' the army source said.
The committee is tasked with resolving issues on the border, which was the scene of decades of warfare and remains littered with landmines.
Thailand has refused to say how many soldiers are already stationed near the Preah Vihear temple, but Cambodian officials say 200 soldiers and 50 deminers have arrived there since Monday.
Earlier, the director of Cambodian agency in charge of the Preah Vihear temple, Hang Soth, said the Thais continued to cross the border Wednesday. 'Their troops have increased in number. They have not pulled back yet,' Mr Hang Soth said.
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said the number of Thai troops swelled to about 200 on Wednesday.
He said Cambodia has about 380 troops in the area but insisted that 'the situation is stable'.
On Tuesday night, Khieu Kanharith said 170 troops and Thai civilians had crossed into Cambodian territory. He could not say how many civilians were among the group.
Despite the tension, efforts appeared to be under way to defuse the situation.
Khieu Kanharith said a Thai senior official had proposed a meeting at the highest level between the two countries to try to resolve the situation. He did not elaborate on who the Thai official was and what the terms of the negotiations were.
Cambodia's position for the proposed meeting would be to seek the withdrawal of Thai troops from its territory, Khieu Kanharith said.
'All (Thai troops) will have to go back to where they used to be,' Khieu Kanharith said. 'After that, we will talk about border problems.' Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to the Cambodian media and the public to remain calm and 'not to inflame (the situation) or add fuel to the fire,' Mr Khieu Kanharith quoted Hun Sen as saying.
'We will definitely not use any forces unless attacked,' Mr Khieu Kanharith said.
'Both the Cambodian and Thai forces have their hands on their guns at all times,' Cambodian border guard unit commander Seng Vuthy said earlier on Wednesday.
He said some of the 900 residents on the mountain where the temple is located have fled their homes to a safer location at the foot of the mountain. -- AP
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