Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Fighting on the Thai-Cambodian border extended into a third day and new flashpoints emerged on Saturday as both sides sought diplomatic support, saying they had acted in self-defence and calling on the other to cease fighting and start negotiations.
At least 30 people have been killed and more than 130,000 people displaced in the worst fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in 13 years.
The Thai navy said there were clashes in the coastal province of Trat early on Saturday, a new front more than 100 km (60 miles) from other conflict points along the long-contested border.
The two countries have faced off since the killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish. Troops on both sides of the border were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse.
Thailand’s death toll remained at 19 on Saturday, while Cambodian Defence Ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata said five soldiers and eight civilians had been killed in the fighting. In the Kanthralak district of Thailand’s Sisaket province, on the border near some of the clashes, hotel worker Chianuwat Thalalai said the town had emptied out.
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