Will Thailand-Cambodia border clash spiral into all-out war?
Clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops continued throughout the night and into Friday morning after a massive escalation of tensions.
On Thursday, Thailand's military said it carried out airstrikes on the Cambodian side of the border after it said the Cambodian army launched artillery shells over the Thai border.
The clash began in the morning near the contested Ta Moan Thom Temple. Both sides said the other started the shooting.
As of Friday afternoon, Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said that he knew of "more than 20 deaths," as well as dozens of injuries.
It is believed that most of these casualties are Thai civilians. Cambodian officials have not yet released any official figures on casualties.
Since May, tensions have escalated between the Southeast Asian neighbors after a Cambodian solider was killed in an exchange of fire with Thai troops while digging trenches on the disputed frontier.
Earlier this week, a landmine injured several Thai soldiers, and Bangkok immediately accused Cambodia of laying new landmines, while Phnom Penh argued that it was most likely one of many mines laid in the area in the 1980s.
Thailand withdrew its ambassador from Phnom Penh and sent home Cambodia's envoy. Cambodia followed suit, and both sides downgraded diplomatic relations on July 23, a day before the latest clashes broke out.
Whether the military strikes will continue and escalate into a wider war remains to be seen.
"The armed conflict could be resolved very quickly; war is not remotely inevitable," Bradley Murg, senior research fellow at the Cambodia Institute for Cooperation and Peace, told DW.
"However, the underlying tensions and resolution of the border issue will be deeply protracted," he added.
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