Cambodian, Thai border fighting 

bigger in 3rd day

Thai soldiers

• Source: Xinhua
• 16:20 April 24 2011

The third day of gunfire exchange between Cambodian and Thai troops over the border disputed area at the Ta Mon and Ta Krabey temples in Oddar Meanchey province still continues as of 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.

The 3rd day fighting began at 10:05 a.m.

“The fighting still continues, it’s bigger than the clashes in the last two days,” said Chhum Socheat, spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Defense. “Thai troops have used sophisticated guns, artilleries, and cluster bombs to attack on our troops; they want to take up Ta Mon Temple today,” he said.

“Thai troops have still continued to use cluster bombs to attack on our troops and nearby villages,” he added.

Immediate casualties are not available, he said.

The first two-days of clashes on April 22-23 had killed at least six Cambodian soldiers and injured 16. While on the Thai side, four soldiers dead and other 17 injured, according to the report from Bangkok.

As of Sunday morning, the number of Cambodian families evacuated from the two-day deadly clashes have amounted to 2,560 with 9,800 people, said Ly Thuch, the second vice-president of the Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management, on Sunday.

The evacuees have been refuge at safe shelters in Oddar Meanchey province’s Samrong district, some 30 kilometers from the fighting zone.

It’s reported that more villagers have been evacuated for safe shelters since this Sunday morning’s clashes.

The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated. Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. But Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers (1.8 square miles) of scrub next to the temple.

Just a week after the enlistment, Cambodia and Thailand had a border conflict, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.