Phnom Penh rejected allegations that its military fired on Thai troops patrolling their border, the country’s information minister said.
“These claims are entirely false, fabricated and grossly distort the facts with the deliberate intent to mislead public opinion and provoke tension along the Cambodia-Thailand border,” Neth Pheaktra said yesterday.
Thailand’s army said Cambodian forces “fired a single 40mm grenade round” near a Thai patrol in the border province of Sisaket yesterday morning, prompting return fire, according to a statement.
Thai army spokesman Winthai Suvaree accused Cambodia of violating a ceasefire agreement, which ended three weeks of deadly border clashes last December.
Neth Pheaktra, however, reiterated Cambodia’s “unwavering commitment” to the December truce and an earlier short-lived US-brokered ceasefire deal from October.
“Cambodia is deeply concerned that unilateral allegations made without joint verification, consultation or factual substantiation risk misrepresenting the situation on the ground and undermining mutual trust,” the minister said.
The Thai army said the “incident may have resulted from a rotation of Cambodian troops, with new personnel lacking familiarity with regulations and command control”, citing a preliminary assessment.
Last month, Thailand also accused Cambodia of violating their ceasefire, saying cross-border mortar fire wounded a soldier, while Phnom Penh said a “pile of garbage” exploded, injuring two of its own troops. — AFP
