Thailand, Cambodia edge toward war

From: Asia Times Online

Thailand and Cambodia fortified their border positions on Tuesday after four days of artillery and mortar battles killed seven Cambodian soldiers and five Thai troops, while both sides tried to dominate nearby ancient Hindu temple ruins. No deaths were reported during Monday's clashes.

Thai troops with scant medical equipment used stretchers and open pickup trucks to transport some injured soldiers from border fights to hospitalization during the weekend. Thailand moved tanks and armored personnel carriers along the mountainous jungle frontier about 560 kilometers northeast of Bangkok.

Cambodia installed more multiple-rocket launchers and other heavy weaponry to bolster its side. Phnom Penh said on Monday that shelling and rifle fire by Thai forces during the weekend damaged the crumbling stone ruins of two small 1,000-year-old Hindu temples, Ta Krabey and Ta Moan. The extent of the damage was unclear.

The ruins are in a disputed border area where most of the four straight days of clashes have occurred. Both Buddhist-majority countries again used artillery, mortars and rifles on Monday night near Ta Krabey, according to Thai and Cambodian military spokesmen.

"The Cambodian acts of aggression left Thailand with no choice but to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity by using proportionate means with necessity, under international law, and strictly directed at only military targets," the Thai Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

About 20,000 villagers on each side of the frontier have fled to makeshift shelters, while camouflaged Thai and Cambodian troops continue to patrol the jungle. The clashes were not expected to escalate immediately into full-scale war between Thailand and Cambodia, but the fighting has shut cross-border trade and caused jitters in both Southeast Asian capitals.

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - of which both Thailand and Cambodia are members - have called on the countries to arrange a ceasefire, but the Thai military said it was fighting to stop Cambodia's attempt to seize the Ta Krabey and Ta Moan temple ruins.