- Cambodia says two civilians have been killed overnight.
- A Thai soldier dies in combat.
- Each side blames the other for clashes.
Thailand said it was expelling Cambodian forces from its territory on Tuesday as renewed fighting between the two Southeast Asian neighbors spread along the disputed border.
Each side has blamed the other for the clashes, which have derailed a fragile ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump that ended five days of fighting in July.
Cambodia’s defense ministry said two civilians had been killed overnight, raising its death toll to six. A Thai soldier has died in the fighting.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, the Thai navy said Cambodian forces had been spotted inside Thai territory in the coastal province of Trat and that military operations were being launched to expel them, without giving further details.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said late Monday that Thailand “must not use military force to attack civilian villages under the pretext of regaining its sovereignty”.
Earlier, Cambodia said it had not retaliated even after its forces came under sustained attack.
The Thai navy said Cambodian forces were increasing their presence, deploying snipers and heavy weapons, improving fortified positions and digging trenches, adding that they saw the actions “as a direct and serious threat to Thailand’s sovereignty”.
Monday’s clashes were the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery in July that killed at least 48 people and displaced 300,000 before Trump intervened to broker a ceasefire.
Thailand evacuated 438,000 civilians across five border provinces, and authorities in Cambodia said hundreds of thousands of people had been moved to safety. Thailand’s army said 18 soldiers were injured, and Cambodia’s government reported nine civilians injured.
For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have disputed sovereignty at undemarcated points along their 817 km (508 mile) land border, with disputes over ancient temples stoking nationalist fervor and occasional armed flare-ups, including a deadly week-long artillery exchange in 2011.
Tensions rose in May after the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a skirmish, which led to a major troop build-up on the border and escalated into diplomatic breakdowns and armed clashes.
