PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AFP) — Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged gunfire Wednesday along their border, a Cambodia army commander said, as a row over a disputed patch of land appeared to be escalating.
"Cambodian and Thai troops are opening fire at each other now," Brigadier General Bun Thean told AFP.
Thailand is gathering troops close to a contested patch of land on the border with Cambodia near to a disputed temple, a Cambodian military commander at the scene said Wednesday.
Bun Thean told AFP by telephone that about 500 troops were massing on the Thai side of the frontier near a small patch of disputed land about two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the 11th century Preah Vihear temple ruins.
"They are coming near now. They are just about 50 to 60 meters (165 to 195 feet) away from the area," Bun Thean said.
Tensions between the neighbours flared again this week after failed talks on Monday aimed at cooling a months-long stand off over land near Preah Vihear, a United Nations cultural heritage site which is in Cambodian territory.
On Tuesday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen issued an ultimatum to the Thai side after he accused 84 Thai soldiers of entering one of a handful of disputed areas -- leave before midday or risk conflict.Cambodian officials insisted that the troops did leave before the deadline, but Thailand's foreign minister said they were standing their ground.
Witnesses along the border said the situation was a little calmer on Wednesday, despite the increase in troops.
"The situation is calmer. Nothing has changed yet," Cambodian Brigadier General Yim Pim told AFP.
The spat between the neighbours first flared in July after Preah Vihear was awarded World Heritage status by the UN cultural body UNESCO, angering some Thai nationalists who still claim ownership of the site.
The situation quickly escalated into a military confrontation, with up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops facing off for six weeks, although both sides in August agreed to reduce troop numbers in the disputed area.
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Thai : 0 Death and 6 injuries
I also heard a lot of other version of injuries and deaths for both side .. as for now i only report from trusted source or i heard more of same info.
---- Other Source
The battle killed at least two Cambodian soldiers and wounded three others, according to Cambodia's Foreign Ministry.
Five Thai soldiers were wounded, the Thai army said.
"Thai businessmen who have no need to be in Cambodia now, please rush back to Thailand," Sompong told reporters.
"We have our evacuation plan ready," he added.
Thai and Cambodian forces exchanged fire for about 10 minutes, the journalist said.
"I heard gunfire all over the place in this area," Reuters photographer Chor Sokunthea said by telephone. "One rocket flew from Thailand over my head and landed. Now you can hear the fighting. They've opened fire."
"I have to find a safe place to hide," he said.
Thailand sent more soldiers yesterday to the disputed stretch of the Cambodian border near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple that both sides claim, a Thai general said, hours after a Cambodian general said Thai troops had pulled back.
On Monday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to turn the area into a "death zone" unless the Thais retreated by midday Tuesday.
The Thai military said it was ready for war and the Foreign Ministry told Thais to "think twice" before visiting Cambodia, only fives years after a nationalist mob torched the embassy in Phnom Penh in an argument about another ancient Hindu temple.
Tensions have been high since July, when 2,000 soldiers faced off only yards apart in trenches dug into a hillside that until 10 years ago was under the control of remnants of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot's guerrilla army.
At the heart of the dispute is 1.8 square miles of scrub near the temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded to Cambodia in 1962, a ruling that has rankled in Thailand ever since.
The dispute flared in July after protesters trying to overthrow the Thai government attacked Bangkok's backing of Phnom Penh's bid to list the Hindu ruins as a World Heritage site.