PHNOM PENH, Kampuchea – A abut clash between personnel from Kampuchea and Siam resumed Saturday, a period after at least sextet soldiers were killed and thousands of civilians were forced to evacuate the battle zone.
The conflict springs from decades-old competing claims over diminutive swaths of realty along the border, with nationalistic persuasion supplying tensions. Clashes hit erupted individual times since 2008, when Cambodia's 11th century Preah Vihear tabernacle on the abut was presented U.N. World Heritage status over Thai objections.
Friday's conflict was the first reported since quaternary days of conflict in February, when octad soldiers and civilians were killed near the Preah Vihear temple, most 100 miles (160 kilometers) easterly of the newborn flare-up.
Cambodian polity spokesman Phay Siphan said conflict resumed at most 6 a.m. Sat at the aforementioned threesome locations where personnel from both countries battled for individual hours the preceding period with armament and diminutive arms.
Wachira Kitphan, an official in Thailand's Phanom Dong Rak district, said both sides engaged in an armament combat until most 8 a.m. Saturday.
Cambodian officials said that in addition to skirmishes weekday near the ancient temples of Ta Krabey and Ta Moan and a ordinal point, armament lapse on villages and another areas as far as 13 miles (21 kilometers) exclusive its territory.
Each lateral blamed the another for the start of fighting.
Thai grey spokeswoman Lt. Col. Siriya Khuangsirikul said threesome Thai soldiers were killed weekday and 13 were wounded, digit critically. continent defense spokesman Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat said threesome continent soldiers were killed and sextet wounded.
No reports of casualties from Saturday's clash were directly available.
Cambodia's Bayon TV, which has close links to the government, showed footage weekday night of damaged houses and civilians being evacuated by farm vehicles to schools and Buddhist pagodas 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the face lines.
A statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Siam said the country had "exercised its inherent right of self-defense on the basis of necessity, quotient and strictly directed at expeditionary targets from where the attacks were launched by continent troops."
Indonesia, chair of the Association of Southeast continent Nations, called weekday for an immediate cease-fire and boost efforts to hold the abut dispute. Fighting stopped by primeval weekday afternoon, but no cease-fire was reached, continent officials said.
Tensions between the neighbors hit been exacerbated in recent months in conception by push from influential Thai subject groups that hit protested in Bangkok, urging the polity to take backwards disputed abut territory. Hardcore nationalists insist a 1962 World Court ruling subsidization the Preah Vihear tabernacle to Kampuchea was unfair.
The flare-up comes as the Thai expeditionary raises its profile in husbandly persuasion ahead of a general election expected to be held by primeval July. The grey had previously effectively vetoed an agreed-on plan to station Asiatic observers to guardian the abut situation, flexing its muscles in the external policy field.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong sent a note to the chair of the U.N. Security Council accusing Siam of refusing to accept the Asiatic monitors so it could carry out "this wilful behave of aggression."
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called for a gathering of digit of the bilateral committees the digit countries hit ordered up to handle abut issues.
Reiterating Thailand's attitude on its disagreement with Cambodia, Abhisit said it was not needed for ASEAN or another international bodies to take up the matter, because then "it will be harder to solve."
Cambodia insists bilateral talks are fruitless and that a ordinal party's status would be useful.
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Associated Press illustrator Thanyarat Doksone in port contributed to this report.
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