Evacuated Thai residents gather at a temporary shelter following clashes along the Thailand-Cambodia border in Buriram province on December 8, 2025. Thailand launched air strikes on its neighbour, Cambodia, on Monday, December 8, the Thai army said, with both sides trading blame for the latest eruption of fighting on their disputed border, which killed a Thai soldier. -- Photo by Sarot Meksophawannakul / THAI NEWS PIX / AFP
BANGKOK (dpa): Less than two months after signing a peace agreement, tensions flared up again between Thailand and Cambodia on Monday as the Thai military carried out what it said were retaliatory airstrikes in the border region.
The outbreak of violence, with several reported deaths, is so serious that Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Monday declared the peace deal signed in October, which was brokered by the United States, to be null and void.
"No more negotiations. If Cambodia wants the fighting to stop, it will have to fulfil our demands," Anutin told reporters.
Cambodia said Thai military forces had launched the attack on Cambodian forces at around 5 am (0300 GMT).
"It should be noted that this attack occurred after the Thai forces engaged in numerous provocative actions for many days," according to a bilingual Defence Ministry post on X. It called Thailand's claims that its attack was retaliatory "false information."
The ministry accused its neighbour of using F-16 fighter jets and gas, spokeswoman Maly Socheata said. She did not specify what kind of gas was involved.
Cambodia had maintained "the utmost restraint” and did not return fire, she said.
Thailand, for its part, said that its airstrikes were in response to attacks by Cambodian troops in the Chong An Ma border area early in the morning, in which one Thai soldier was killed.
Thai army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told Thai media that Cambodia had first shelled military and civilian targets in Thailand with grenades and rockets, and that several other soldiers were wounded.
At least four civilians were killed and nine others injured in the attacks by the Thai military, local media quoted Cambodia's Information Minister Neth Pheaktra as saying.
There was small arms fire reported on both sides of the border.
Authorities advised residents in villages on the Thai side of the border to seek safety. According to the Bangkok Post, the roads in border provinces such as Surin were clogged with vehicles bringing people out of the conflict zone.
Thousands of residents on both sides of the border had fled their homes, according to media reports.
At the end of October, the neighbours signed a peace agreement at the summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) after heavy clashes between their forces at the border in July. US President Donald Trump brokered the deal.
In November, the agreed ceasefire was suspended following a further incident at the border.
The dispute over the 800-kilometre border between the two countries has been simmering for decades. - dpa
