At least two soldiers are dead and several wounded in exchanges of gunfire and artillery between Thai and Cambodian troops near a disputed remote border.
In the latest clashes of a long-simmering frontier dispute, each side accuses the other of starting the confrontation that destroyed buildings on both sides of the sensitive border about 300 miles east of Bangkok.
Thailand and Cambodia each report one soldier dead and several severely wounded in two confrontations last weekend, one in the late afternoon and the other the following morning. There were more instances of gunfire Monday.
The clashes come only hours after a meeting in Cambodia of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation that included Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and his Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya. The commission is responsible for maintaining peace along the border, particularly in the area of the latest confrontations.
The military of both countries periodically face each other in the Dangrek Mountains near an 11th-century Hindu temple at Preah Vihear Mountain, which involves land both countries claim as their territory.
After the latest attacks, Namhong said he wrote to the United Nations complaining that the border situation is "explosive" and that Thailand had opened fire first. "Cambodian troops had no option but to retaliate in self-defense," the letter said.
Namhong said Cambodian forces had damaged a Thai military base and destroyed two tanks in the battle that included more than 300 Thai soldiers entering Cambodian territory at Wat Keo Sikha Kiri Svara near the Preah Vihear temple. They then fired mortars and artillery shells ranging from 105-155mm up to 12.5 miles into Cambodian territory.
He also said Cambodia troops arrested four Thai soldiers.
However, Thailand's Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing Cambodia of attacking first, calling it a "clear violation" of Thai "territorial integrity."
Cambodia fired mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery shells into Thai territory and 3,000 Thai civilians living along the border had to be evacuated, the statement said.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple was on Cambodian land. But the only access to the mountaintop structure is on the Thai side, a route that Thai troops occasionally seal off.
Cambodia managed to get the temple listed as a World Heritage site in 2008, much to the annoyance of Bangkok.
Around 2,000 troops from both sides are stationed across from each other on border patrol. Cross-border incidents occasionally flare up, such as in October 2008 when two Cambodian troops died and seven Thai troops were wounded in a gun battle lasting an hour.
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