Thai, Cambodia armies to Meet After Border Battle
Thai, Cambodia armies to Meet After Border Battle
Cambodian soldiers sit in a truck at Sraem village, Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 16, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (More Photos)
Cambodian villagers, seen, leaving Anlong Veng, Cambodia, near the Thai border, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008. A tense border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia erupted into a gunbattle that killed two soldiers Wednesday, but officials from both sides downplayed the violence and called for resolving the conflict through talks, not bullets. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Wern Champasak (C), Thailand's chief of border communication, sits with a Cambodian soldier after surrendering at Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh October 15, 2008. Cambodia's army captured 10 Thai soldiers on Wednesday after a battle along a disputed stretch of border near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)
Cambodian soldiers sit on an armored vehicle at Sraem village in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 16, 2008. Thai and Cambodian troops fired rockets and small arms at each other on a disputed stretch of border on Wednesday, killing two Cambodians and prompting Bangkok to tell its citizens to return home. Both sides accused each other of firing first in the clash, which comes amid huge political instability in Bangkok, with protesters in a long-running street campaign urging the army to launch a coup against the elected government.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)
By Chor Sokunthea
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (Reuters) - Thai and Cambodian military commanders prepared for talks across their disputed border on Thursday after the most serious clash in years left two Cambodian soldiers dead and 10 Thais in Cambodian hands.
Despite Wednesday's 40-minute exchange of rocket and gun fire, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said a scheduled meeting to resolve arguments over the jungle frontier would go ahead, suggesting escalation was not inevitable.
"It is a good sign that we can start to solve this conflict," he told reporters in Phnom Penh after an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen about the fighting near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
"We consider this an incident between soldiers and not an invasion by Thailand," Hor Namhong said.
The talks were due to begin at 11 a.m. at a location near the disputed temple, known to Thais as Khao Phra Viharn.
Thai regional army commander Wiboonsak Neeparn told Reuters the meeting would focus on the cause of Wednesday's clash and how to ratchet down tensions on the border, where both sides have rushed reinforcements.
There has been no word on the exchange of 10 Thai prisoners, whose existence Bangkok is officially denying.
Hor Namhong said the group, who were photographed by a Reuters photographer under Cambodian guard, would be properly treated and returned to Thailand if Bangkok requested.
Bangkok has urged its citizens to leave Cambodia, mindful of the 2003 torching of its embassy and Thai businesses in Phnom Penh by a nationalist mob incensed by a row over Angkor Wat, another ancient temple.
"Thai businessmen who have no need to be in Cambodia now, please rush back to Thailand," Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat told reporters, adding that the military had an evacuation plan ready if needed.
In 2003, Thai commandos flew into Phnom Penh airport in the middle of the night to help evacuate 600 Thais during the riots.
Security was beefed up outside the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, with 20 military police armed with assault rifles standing guard.
Both sides accused each other of firing first in the clash, which comes amid huge political instability in Bangkok, with protesters in a long-running street campaign urging the army to launch a coup against the elected government.
"The Thai military are very much under pressure to protect the national sovereignty and territory," Panitan Wattanayagorn, a military analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University said.
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan in Kantaralak)
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Valerie Lee)
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Development & Analysis:
by Cambodian Information Center
Thais Attacked at 3 Different Places (Phnom Trap - 1,600 meters from the border, Pagoda Keo Sikha Kiri Svara- 700 meters from the border, & the Veal Intry area - 1,120 meters from the border) Deep Inside the Cambodian Territory. Two-hour gunfire started 2:15 p.m. local time. 2 Cambodian soldiers were killed & 2 others injured. 6 Thai soldiers were injured & 10 others captured
- 300,000 Thai troops equipped by the United States
- Royal Cambodian Armed Forces are experienced former fighters of the Khmer Rouge
- Both sides were facing off about 100 metres apart
- Wen - Oct. 15, 08 - Second Clash: Thais Attacked at 3 Different Places: Two-hour gunfire started 2:15 p.m. local time. 2 Cambodian soldiers killed & 2 others injured. 4 Thai soldiers injured & 10 others captured
- Tues - Oct. 14, 08 - Thailand's Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat meeting with military leaders and moving additional troops and weapons closer to a disputed border area.
- Mon - Oct. 13, 08 - PM Hun Sen Set Tuesday @ 12:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) as the ultimate time for over 80 Thai troops to withdraw from the Veal Intry area after ending his meeting with visiting Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat in Phnom Penh
- Fri - Oct. 10, 08 - The official visit of Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to Cambodia has been canceled
- Mon - Oct. 6, 08 - 2 Thai soldiers were injured after stepping on a landmine
- Fri - Oct. 3, 08 - First Clash by Angry Finger-Pointing: Two Thai soldiers and one Cambodian soldier were injured
- July 22, 2008 - Thai troops with artilleries and tanks building up along the border
- July 15, 2008 - The Thai military build-up began, when Cambodian guards briefly detained three Thais who crossed into the area and refused to leave
- July, 8 2008, the UNESCO recognized Prasat Preah Vihear to the World Heritage
- 1979 - Thai soldiers forced Cambodian refugees across a minefield along Dangrek Mountains. Hundreds were shot or blown to pieces
- June 15, 1962, Hague Internaional Court of Justice rulled that Preah Vihear Temple lay in Cambodia territory
Labels: Preah Vihear, Thailand, War
