Thailand-Cambodia border war fears surge as rockets kill 12
Thai air strikes rained down on Cambodia as 40,000 Thais fled deadly Cambodian rocket attacks and Bangkok accused Phnom Penh of ‘war crimes’
With their long shared border closed, the fighting escalated through Thursday morning and six Thai F-16 fighter jets were deployed, firing on Cambodian positions and hitting “two military targets on the ground”, said Thai army spokesman Ritcha Suksuwanon.
Cambodia’s defence ministry condemned what it called reckless and brutal Thai military aggression, accusing its neighbour of opening fire on its troops and violating an agreement designed to de-escalate a territorial dispute that has festered for weeks.
In a day marked by competing narratives, the Thai army said Cambodian troops sparked the clashes early on Thursday after approaching them with drones and men armed with rocket-propelled grenades. Cambodia said the Thai side had opened fire first.
As the clashes intensified, Cambodia appeared to have fired multiple salvoes of Soviet-era BM-21 rockets over the border with Thailand.