Thai soldiers injured by landmine near Cambodia amid fragile ceasefire
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BANGKOK - Three Thai soldiers were injured by a landmine while patrolling the border with Cambodia, the Thai army said in a statement on Aug 9, days after the two neighbours agreed to a detailed ceasefire
One soldier lost a foot and two others were injured after one of them stepped on a landmine as they patrolled an area between Thailand’s Sisaket and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear provinces on the morning of Aug 9, the Thai army said.
The soldiers are being treated at a hospital, the army said.
Thailand said the incident took place within its territory and in an area recently cleared of landmines. It added it would lodge a complaint against Cambodia for violating a treaty that bans the use of landmines, and for infringing Thai sovereignty, the Thai foreign ministry said in a statement.
Both Thailand and Cambodia are signatories to the Ottawa Convention against landmines.
Cambodia rejected Thailand’s accusation, saying that it had not freshly planted landmines.
The country is a “proud state party” to the Ottawa Convention against landmines and has cleared more than 1 million mines left from decades of war, the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority said in a statement late on Aug 9, adding that Thailand’s accusations risked undermining the spirit of the ceasefire.
Bangkok and Phnom Penh have quarrelled for decades over undemarcated parts of their 817km land border, which was first mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was its colony.
The incident is the third time in a few weeks that Thai soldiers have been injured by mines while patrolling along the border.
Two previous similar incidents led to the downgrading of diplomatic relations and triggered five days of violent clashes.
The South-east Asian neighbours were engaged in deadly border clashes from July 24 to 28
The exchanges of artillery fire and jet fighter sorties claimed at least 43 lives and left over 300,000 people displaced on both sides.
A fragile ceasefire has been holding since Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Aug 7 to allow observers from the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) to inspect disputed border areas to ensure hostilities do not resume.
Bangkok accused Cambodia of planting landmines on the Thai side of the disputed border that injured soldiers on July 16 and 23.
Phnom Penh denied it had placed any new mines and said the soldiers had veered off agreed routes and triggered old landmines left from its decades of war. REUTERS
