By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 24 Jul 2025 • 20:23
• 2 minutes read
Five Thai soldiers were injured by Cambodian landmines along the border on Wednesday | Credit: Tong Patong/Shutterstock
Thailand scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to bomb targets in Cambodia on Thursday after artillery volleys from both sides killed at least 12 civilians, as border tension escalated between the Southeast Asian countries, Reuters reported. They positioned five more ready for action.
Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri said Cambodia had deployed rocket launchers to the border with his country. “Now we have escalated the measures to level 4,” the military official added, explaining that it “involves the complete closure of all border checkpoints along the Thai-Cambodian border.”
In a video shared by Reuters, Thai residents in the border province of Surin, close to the fighting, could be seen rushing to hide in bunkers fortified with sandbags. According to the British news agency, both countries blame each other for starting a morning clash at a disputed area of the border. The armed confrontation quickly escalated from small arms fire to heavy shelling in at least six locations, 209 kilometres (130 miles) apart, along a region where sovereignty has been disputed for more than a century.
Clashes not seen in 13 years
On Wednesday, the conflict rose to levels of armed confrontation not seen in 13 years after Thailand recalled their ambassador to Phnom Penh and expelled Cambodia’s envoy, in response to a second Thai soldier losing a limb in a landmine explosion. He was one of five soldiers injured that day. Thai officials accuse the Cambodian military of laying mines recently.
The two countries have been braced for conflict since the killing of a Cambodian soldier in May during a brief clash, with troops reinforced on both sides of the border amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile government to the verge of collapse.
According to Thai authorities, 12 people were killed in three provinces, 11 of whom are civilians, including an eight-year-old boy, and 31 more were injured.
Neighbouring countries called for de-escalation, with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim saying he would speak to both countries by the end of the day.
A 100-years-old conflict
The dispute between the two countries dates back over 100 years to when France, which occupied Cambodia until 1953, first mapped the land border.
The dispute over the border, which stretches across more than 508 miles (817 km), has frequently erupted over the years, fueled by nationalist sentiment.
Cambodia has requested that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) resolve the border conflict. However, this is unlikely to lead to a resolution as Thailand rejects the court’s jurisdiction.
Tita Sanglee, an associate fellow at the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, said the only viable external mediator to the dispute is China, “because it has direct leverage over Cambodia and also Thailand.”
Cambodia’s head of state, Hun Manet, has requested the UN Security Council convene an urgent meeting to discuss the crisis, accusing Thailand of “unprovoked military aggression”.
