Cambodia and Thailand again exchanged fire at several points along their shared border yesterday afternoon and early this morning, threatening to derail a peace accord that the two nations signed in Malaysia in October.

In a statement late yesterday, Cambodia’s Ministry of Defense stated that Thai troops had opened fire on Cambodian soldiers close to the border in Preah Vihear province at 2:15 p.m. yesterday, using handguns, B40 machine guns, and 60mm mortars.

“During this incident, Cambodian forces did not retaliate at all and are closely monitoring the situation with utmost caution and vigilance,” ministry spokesperson Lt. Gen. Maly Socheata said in a press briefing. She added that the clash was over by 2:32 p.m., and that Cambodia had notified ASEAN Observer Teams and called for a thorough investigation.

Soon afterward, Thailand’s military countered with a statement in which army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Winthai Suvaree accused Cambodia of starting the firefight. He stated that Thai soldiers came under fire while protecting an engineering unit that repairing a road “within Thai sovereign territory” in Sisaket province. He stated that “Thai forces then returned fire, leading to a clash that lasted about 15–20 minutes.” The Second Army Region claimed that two Thai soldiers were injured in the attacks. It added that “based on an initial examination of their wounds, it is suspected that they may have been shot by a snipe with an apparent attempt to kill.”

The Ministry of Defense........

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