Tuesday, October 21, 2008

CNN: Claimed by two nations 1:33

Claimed by two nations 1:33 CNN's Dan Rivers takes us on a journey along the front line in the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia.

Labels: Preah Vihear, Thailand, War

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

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)

======================

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

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

BREAKING NEWS: Thais Attacked at 3 Different Places

BREAKING NEWS ALERT: 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 killed & 2 others injured. 4 Thai soldiers injured & 10 others captured

A Cambodian commander talks on a two-way radio after fighting broke out with Thai soldiers near Preah Vihear temple. Thailand and Cambodia exchanged fire in a clash over disputed land which left two soldiers dead and several wounded. (AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)

A Cambodian solider crouches in a trench during fighting near Eagle field near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh October 15, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

A Cambodian soldier examines the body of a colleague who was killed near Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, some 543 kilometers north of Phnom Penh on October 15, 2008. (AFP)

A Cambodian soldier (L) sits next to surrendered Thai troops 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

Thai troops sit 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

A Cambodian solider looks at Thai weapons after fighting 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. 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. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Labels: Preah Vihear, Thailand, War

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BREAKING NEWS: Fighting erupts in border dispute

Fighting Erupts in Border Dispute

(AP): A gunfight has broken out between Thai and Cambodian troops at a disputed border zone, escalating a conflict that officials from both sides fear could result in a war between the neighbours.

"Fighting is going on," said Major Prum Saroeun, a Cambodian police official. "Soldiers in the field say that Thai troops fired first and our troops fired back."

Thailand's army spokesman Sansern Kaewkumnerd said Cambodian troops fired the first shot.

"Fighting is ongoing at the border and we are currently getting more details," he said. "As far as we know, the Cambodians fired at the Thai troops first."

It was not immediately clear how many troops were engaged in the gunbattle and if there were any fatalities.

The clash came a day after Cambodia's prime minister issued an ultimatum to Thailand to pull back its soldiers from disputed territory near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

Thailand's foreign minister Sompong Amornvivat has urged Thais to leave Cambodia as soon as possible.

Thailand put jet fighters on alert at air force bases nationwide and C-130 transport planes on standby at a base in the capital, Bangkok, to evacuate Thais living in the border area "if the tension escalates to a military confrontation," Thai air force official Group Captain Montol Satchukorn said.

"Our forces are on alert and ready to support the army's possible operations on the border," he said.

"These are just precautionary measures. It's not that we are going to war."

Labels: Preah Vihear, Thailand, War

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BREAKING NEWS: Thai and Cambodia Troops Exchange Border Gunfire

Thai and Cambodia Troops Exchange Border Gunfire

Wed 15 Oct 2008, 7:59 GMT

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (Reuters) - Thailand urged its nationals to leave Cambodia on Wednesday after troops from both countries exchanged gunfire when a long-simmering border dispute turned violent.

Each side accused the other of firing first at a stretch of the border near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple that both sides claim.

The International Court of Justice awarded the 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) patch of scrub to Cambodia in 1962, a ruling that has rankled in Thailand ever since.

The issue has become highly politicised again in Thailand, with opposition protesters who for months have laid siege to the government adopting it as one of their causes.

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.

On Monday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to turn the area into a "death zone" unless the Thais withdrew troops by midday Tuesday.

A Reuters photographer at the scene said he had to take cover amid rocket and small-arms fire when fighting erupted on Wednesday.

"I heard gunfire all over the place," Chor Sokunthea said by telephone. "One rocket flew from Thailand over my head and landed. I have to find a safe place to hide."

There was no immediate word on casualties.

The Thai military said it was ready for war and the Foreign Ministry told Thais to "think twice" before visiting Cambodia, only five years after a nationalist mob torched the embassy in Phnom Penh in an argument about another ancient Hindu temple.

"Thai businessmen who have no need to be in Cambodia now, please rush back to Thailand," Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat told reporters on Wednesday.

"We have our evacuation plan ready," he added.

The Thai stock market dropped 2.2 in the immediate aftermath of news of Wednesday's firing, but it was not immediately clear if it was a direct consequence.

Singapore and Indonesia have asked both sides to show restraint.

(Writing by David Fox; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Labels: Preah Vihear, Thailand, War

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Editorial | Articles about Cambodia | Khmer

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

CNN: Claimed by two nations 1:33

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Thai, Cambodia armies to Meet After Border Battle

Thai, Cambodia armies to Meet After Border Battle

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

BREAKING NEWS: Thais Attacked at 3 Different Places

BREAKING NEWS: Fighting erupts in border dispute

Fighting Erupts in Border Dispute

BREAKING NEWS: Thai and Cambodia Troops Exchange Border Gunfire

Thai and Cambodia Troops Exchange Border Gunfire

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