Evacuated Thai residents gathering at a temporary shelter following clashes along the Thailand-Cambodia border in Buriram province on Dec 8, 2025. - AFP
BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH: Thailand said it was taking action to expel Cambodian forces from its territory on Tuesday (Dec 9), as renewed fighting between the two South-East Asian neighbours spread along the disputed border.
In a statement, the Thai Navy said Cambodian forces had been detected inside Thai territory in the coastal province of Trat and military operations were launched to expel them, without providing further details.
The former leader of Cambodia said Dec 9 that Cambodia has retaliated in the border conflict. Phnom Penh has accused Thai forces of shelling positions overnight in fighting that has killed seven civilians and a Thai soldier.
Each side has blamed the other for the clashes, which have derailed a fragile ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump that ended five days of fighting in July.
The Thai military fired shells into the border province of Banteay Meanchey after midnight, killing two people travelling on National Road 56, the Cambodian Defence Ministry said in a Facebook post.
A woman carrying a dog and a mat as she evacuates to a shelter, following fresh military clashes between Thailand and Cambodia along parts of their disputed border, in Buriram province on Dec 8, 2025. - Reuters
Ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata later told reporters that seven civilians had been killed and 20 wounded in Thai attacks, as of the morning of Dec 9.
The ministry said in a separate statement that the Thai army had resumed attacks at around 5am local time on Dec 9 in border regions, including in the area of centuries-old temples, such as the Unesco world heritage site, the Preah Vihear temple.
Cambodia’s influential former leader Hun Sen said on Dec 9 that his country had retaliated against Thailand, after Phnom Penh denied firing back for two days.
“After being patient for more than 24 hours in order to respect the ceasefire and for time to evacuate people to safety, yesterday evening we retaliated, with more (responses) last night and this morning,” the Senate president and former prime minister said in a Facebook post.
“Now we fight in order to defend ourselves again,” he added.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said late on Dec 8 that Thailand “must not use military force to attack civilian villages under the pretext of reclaiming its sovereignty”.
Earlier, Cambodia said it had not retaliated even after its forces came under sustained attack.
The Thai Navy said Cambodian forces were increasing their presence, deploying snipers and heavy weapons, improving fortified positions and digging trenches, adding it saw the actions “as a direct and serious threat to Thailand's sovereignty”.
The Dec 8 clashes were the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery in July, when at least 48 people were killed and 300,000 displaced, before Mr Trump intervened to broker a ceasefire.
Thailand evacuated 438,000 civilians across five border provinces and authorities in Cambodia said hundreds of thousands of people had been moved to safety. Thailand's army said 18 soldiers were wounded and Cambodia's government reported nine civilians injured.
In Thailand’s Surin province, Sutida Pusa, 30, who runs a small food shop, told AFP on Dec 8 that her young and elderly relatives were moved to an evacuation centre the day before, while others stayed behind to guard their property.
She has travelled back and forth between the temporary shelter and her house – located less than 20km from the border – to care for family members in both places.
“I wanted to see the situation first, as the sounds of fighting aren’t as loud as during the major clash on July 24,” she said.
“We never trust the situation.”
Cambodian information minister Neth Pheaktra told AFP that at least four civilians were killed by Thai shelling on Dec 8 in two border provinces.
Around 10 other civilians were wounded, he said on Dec 8.
The Thai army has said one soldier was killed and 18 others were wounded since Dec 7.
It said Dec 9 that Cambodian artillery shells had fallen on two civilian homes in Sa Kaeo province, with no casualties reported.
Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at undemarcated points along their 817km land border, with disputes over ancient temples stirring nationalist fervour and occasional armed flare-ups, including a deadly week-long artillery exchange in 2011.
Tensions rose in May following the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a skirmish, which led to a major troop buildup at the border and escalated into diplomatic breakdowns and armed clashes. - Agencies
