‘Nothing like this has happened before’: At least 16 dead as Thai-Cambodian conflict continues

BURIRAM, Thailand – The explosions were loud and came without warning. It was quickly apparent that the blasts were too close for comfort, and the decision was made to flee.

“We were alarmed, shocked,” said Ms Sopa Suayprakhon, 54, a rice farmer from Ban Kruat district in Thailand’s Buriram province, bordering Cambodia. “Just very scared.”

She said villagers estimated that the blasts on July 25 were less than a kilometre away.

Similar scenes have been playing out at hot spots along the long, porous and disputed border Thailand shares with Cambodia since

fighting erupted on July 24

.

The Thai authorities said more than 130,000 people from four north-eastern border provinces have been evacuated to emergency shelters as at July 25, with the number expected to rise as heavy artillery fighting intensified and spread into new areas.

At least 16 people have been killed, including 14 Thai civilians.

Both countries have

accused each other

of starting the conflict and shown little appetite for de-escalation. Cambodia says Thailand deployed cluster munitions – bombs that spread many smaller explosives over a wide area, posing an indiscriminate threat to civilians.

Thailand, meanwhile, has accused Cambodia of deliberately targeting civilians by using its Russian-made rocket systems to shell areas including hospitals and schools. Several hospitals near Thailand’s border with Cambodia have been either fully or partially closed because of the ongoing fighting, Thailand’s Health Ministry said.

“The current situation involves acts of intrusion and aggression that are causing harm to the people’s lives,” Thailand’s Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said. “The situation has intensified and could potentially escalate into a state of war. At present, it is still considered a skirmish involving heavy weapons.”

Cambodia’s national government has yet to provide updates on casualties or evacuations, but local media reports said more than 20,000 Cambodians have been evacuated from the northern border province of Preah Vihear.

Wire agency AFP reported that one Cambodian civilian had been killed and five wounded, with 1,500 families evacuated, citing a provincial official.

The UN Security Council said it

would be holding an emergency meeting

at its headquarters in New York on July 25 at 3pm (3am on July 26, Singapore time) to discuss escalating tensions between Thailand and Cambodia.

In Buriram, the city’s motor sport racing track has been converted into one of the largest Thai evacuation centres. There was an air of quiet resignation as evacuees contemplated settling in for a second night of rough sleeping on improvised beds on straw matting and in tents. Officials in the command centre said that they registered and processed more than 8,000 residents.

There was plenty of food, water and other necessities to go round, as well as support from health services and other government authorities. But evacuees’ thoughts are turning towards the uncertainty over when they will be able to return home and what they have left behind, with the initial shock of leaving home starting to settle.

Ms Saowaree Loyprakhon, 54, said that, despite the danger, some men in her village, including her husband, stayed behind to tend to the livestock and animals on their farms, to protect their families’ livelihoods. “Nothing like this has happened before,” she said. “It’s a big disruption.”

Thailand and Cambodia share a long history of border tensions, which recently flared after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash in the disputed Emerald Triangle on May 28.

Amid heightened nationalist sentiment on both sides, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra attempted to negotiate with influential former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, father of Prime Minister Hun Manet. However, this only resulted in an embarrassing leaked phone recording on June 18 that ultimately led to her suspension from office, and the disintegration of the once-close relationship between the countries’ leading political families.

Tensions again flared after Thailand expelled Cambodia’s ambassador and recalled its own envoy from Phnom Penh in response to five Thai soldiers being injured by a landmine explosion in a disputed border area on July 23, the second such incident in a week.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is chairing Asean in 2025, has said Thailand and Cambodia have expressed willingness to agree to a ceasefire and to withdraw their troops from the border, following a call with both leaders on July 24.

Mr Hun Manet said in a Facebook post on July 25: “I made it clear... that Cambodia agreed with his proposal for a ceasefire because Cambodia did not initiate this fighting.”

But he said that, after an hour, the Thai government backtracked on its decision on the ceasefire.

“Therefore, the key to resolving the current armed conflict between Thailand and Cambodia is the genuine willingness of the Thai side to accept a ceasefire,” he said.