Even as border clashes with Thailand continue, some in Cambodia are digging in their heels

BANTEAY MEANCHEY, Cambodia – Even as bomb explosions and artillery fire have grown louder and more frequent, farmer Yem Mal has dug in his heels instead of moving to a safer spot.

The 65-year-old is the chief of Roluos commune in Banteay Meanchey province, north-western Cambodia, about 45 minutes by car from the border with Thailand. About 95 per cent of the commune’s 4,000 residents, including his family members, have been evacuated, he said, but he is staying behind to keep watch on the place.

On Dec 9,

a day after hostilities resumed

between Thailand and Cambodia, Mr Mal spent four hours digging a bunker in his backyard. The space can hold seven people in a tight squeeze, he told The Straits Times.

The homemade hideout was put to the test just two days later, when he and a few of his neighbours hid inside it after hearing firing on the morning of Dec 11.

When they emerged half an hour later, they found a few pieces of shrapnel about 1km away from their makeshift bomb shelter.

Though Mr Mal had a scare, he is determined to stay put for now.

“I will run if the fighting gets worse. If the bombings keep me from sleeping and I can’t bear this situation, I will run,” he said.

The

resumption of

military clashes

between Thailand and Cambodia – following a ceasefire after a five-day battle in July 2025 that had been the worst conflict in recent years – has led to the evacuation of more than half a million people on both sides of the border.

Thailand reported its first three civilian deaths on Dec 11, with some 80 others wounded. At least 11 civilians have been reported to have been killed in Cambodia and 74 others injured.

The Cambodian authorities insist that the Thai military is continuing to fire into its villages, including using military drones to drop bombs on Cambodian territory. Thailand has maintained that it is fighting to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The two neighbours have been

bickering for centuries

over ownership of undemarcated areas along their shared 800km-long border.

Cambodia has set up more than 100 evacuation centres across six provinces, housing about 130,000 people, said Mr Janes Imanuel Ginting, national director of the aid group World Vision Cambodia.

He added that the scale and speed of the displacement have ​created shortages of food, shelter, drinking water and sanitation facilities.

The non-governmental humanitarian organisation has been helping people affected by the latest clashes, particularly women and children, distributing supplements to pregnant women and micro-nutrient snacks to children. It has also set up 12 child-friendly spaces at displacement sites in Siem Reap.

In Treas commune near Roluos, some residents are also staying behind to protect their property and belongings even though the clashes do not look like they are abating.

“I understand that life is more important, but life will be difficult if we leave our home,” said Mr Chhem Sokha, a 65-year-old retired civil servant whose family members have left for a safer spot.

Mr Sokha’s neighbourhood is largely empty now as most of the villagers have decided to evacuate to a place farther away, leaving shops shuttered and houses padlocked.

Two abandoned minibuses, riddled with bullet holes and shattered windows, stand on one side of the street.

That most villagers have left is understandable: Two loud explosions were heard about 20 seconds apart when ST visited.

It was unclear where the explosions happened or which side of the border they came from.

The two minibuses were reported by the local media to have been shot at by the Thai military earlier this week, and Cambodia claims that two people were killed in the attack.

Mr Sokha, a father of four, hopes that the war will end soon as “people in both countries are suffering and do not want war”. 

“Please let the people of both countries live in harmony,” he pleaded.

Besides the humanitarian crisis, residents also worry that their livelihoods are now in jeopardy.

Mrs Pek Hea, 53, who lives in Svay Chek district in Banteay Meanchey, is staying put by her small mum-and-pop store even though most people in her neighbourhood, including her four children, have left for safer places.

“I am very scared. When I hear the explosions, I run quickly and hide,” she said. “But I can’t sell anything here now because people have left. How can I sell?”