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Thailand and Cambodia have exchanged new attacks on Saturday such as Fatal border clashes Entering a third day, killing at least 33 people and more than 168,000 displaced, while international pressure rose on both sides to reach a cease-fire.
Artillery fires and gunshots were reported near several border villages, widening the fighting area that escaped Thursday after an explosion of land mines along the wounded border five Thai soldiers. Cambodian and Thai officials said they acted in retaliation.
The two countries recalled that their ambassadors and Thailand have closed its northeast border crossings with Cambodia.
The Cambodian authorities reported on Saturday 12 new deaths, boring his toll at 13, while Thai officials said that a soldier had been killed, bringing the deaths to 20, mainly civilians.
The regional block, the Association of Nations of Southeast AsiaOr ASEAN, undergoing increasing pressure to defuse the situation between its two members. On Friday, during an emergency meeting, members of the United Nations Security Council called for de -escalation and urged the Anase to mediate a peaceful solution.
SAKCHAI LALIT / AP
The 500 -mile border between Thailand and Cambodia has been challenged for decades, but past confrontations have been limited and brief. Current tensions broke out in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a confrontation that created a diplomatic rift and disrupted the internal policy of Thailand.
Fresh attacks and growing tension
The Cambodia Ministry of Defense condemned what he said was a Thai offensive extended early Saturday after five Lourdes artillery shells were dismissed in several places in the province of Pursat, describing the attack as an “act of uninsured and premeditated aggression”.
The ministry spokesman, Lieutenant-General Maly Scheata, said that the tensions won in the province of Koh Kong, where four Thai naval vessels have been stationed offshore and four others along the way. She said that the naval deployment was an “act of attack” which risked a new escalation.
Maly Scheata said seven civilians and five soldiers had been killed in two days of fighting. Earlier, a man was reported dead after a pagoda to which he was hiding was touched by Thai rockets.
The Thai army had denied having targeted Cambodian civil sites and accused Phnom Penh of using “human shields” by positioning their weapons near residential areas.
Anton L. Delgado / AP
Meanwhile, the Navy of Thailand, in a statement on Saturday, accused the Cambodian forces of having launched a new attack in the province of Trat, saying that Thai forces responded quickly and “managed to repel the Cambodian foray into three key points”, warning that “the attack will not be tolerated”.
Thai authorities also allegedly allegedly allegedly allegedly landed through the border in Laos, damaging houses and property. Lao officials did not publicly respond to the complaint.
The conflict has so far left thousands of displaced people.
Cambodia Minister Neth Pheaktra said on Saturday that clashes had forced 10,865 Cambodian families, 37,635 people in three border provinces to evacuate to safe places, while Thai officials said more than 131,000 people had fled their border villages.
Call to protect civilians in the middle of the claim of the use of the bomb in the cluster
Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations Security Council and concerned governments to press Thai and Cambodian governments to respect international humanitarian law and take all measures to protect civilians. The children were injured and the Thai authorities closed at least 852 schools and seven hospitals for security reasons, the rights group said on a statement on Saturday.
The two parties used rocket and artillery attacks, and after initially denied the Cambodian statements according to which International international cluster ammunition were used, a Thai military spokesperson in a statement said on Friday that such weapons could be used “if necessary” to target military objectives. HRW condemned the use of cluster ammunition in populated areas.
Neither Thailand nor Cambodia is a party to the cluster’s ammunition convention, which prohibit the use of the weapon and the Thai authorities had previously used them during a border dispute with Cambodia in February 2011 which left 20 people.
Heng Sinith / AP
“Neither Thailand nor Cambodia seem to pay attention to international humanitarian law at great expense for civilians,” said John Sifton, director of advocacy in Asia at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. “The current diplomatic efforts must prioritize the protection of civilians and civil infrastructure.”
Thai officials also recognized the use of F-16 jets and drones to launch air strikes.
One exhorts the Asean block to mediate
The United Nations Security Council did not resolve the crisis during its emergency session on Friday, but the Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said on Saturday that the 15 member countries called on both sides to exercise restraint, stop attacks and resolve the dispute peacefully. They also supported the role of the Anase in mediation between its two Member States, he said.
The Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose country is the current president of the Anase, had previously declared that Thailand and Cambodia were in principle open to his cease-fire proposal. The Malaysian media said that Anwar had in charge of the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs to mediate on peace talks to stop fighting.
Maris said on Saturday that his country had agreed in principle from the proposal, but insisted that Cambodia should first show sincerity and stop hostilities, adding that Thailand would continue to make a constructive commitment with Malaysia.
“Thailand reaffirms its commitment to resolving the conflict peacefully and in accordance with international law,” he said, urging Cambodia to “return to the negotiating table with sincerity and good faith”.