Thai military strikes Cambodian targets, says defence ministry

The guns along the Cambodia–Thailand border have not fallen silent. As dawn broke on Tuesday, Thai military forces continued to unleash artillery fire and tank-mounted machine guns across multiple targets inside Cambodian territory, a Cambodian defence spokesperson said, underscoring the grim persistence of a conflict now stretching into its 17th day.

The human cost continues to mount. Cambodia’s civilian death toll has risen to 21, including the death of an infant, while at least 83 others have been wounded, defence ministry undersecretary of state and spokesperson Lt General Maly Socheata told a press briefing. She said Thai attacks struck areas inhabited by civilians, turning homes into frontlines and daily life into a struggle for survival.

The border confrontation, which reignited on 7 December, has seen both Phnom Penh and Bangkok trade accusations over who fired first, even as the violence spills relentlessly into civilian spaces. According to Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior, the fighting has uprooted nearly 545,000 people, forcing them to abandon their homes and seek refuge in shelters amid fear and uncertainty.

Alarmed by the escalating toll, foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convened a special meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Monday to address the worsening crisis. In a joint appeal, they urged both Cambodia and Thailand to exercise restraint and take immediate steps to halt all hostilities.

Reaffirming ASEAN’s unity, centrality and commitment to regional peace, the ministers voiced deep concern over the continuing violence, which has claimed lives, damaged civilian infrastructure and displaced hundreds of thousands on both sides of the border. They called on the two neighbours to ensure that civilians can return safely and with dignity to their homes and livelihoods as they existed before the fighting erupted.

The ASEAN statement urged Phnom Penh and Bangkok to restore mutual trust, return to dialogue through bilateral channels, and make use of the good offices of the ASEAN Chair. It also called for renewed cooperation on humanitarian demining, military de-escalation under ASEAN observation, and strict adherence to international law and peaceful coexistence — steps seen as essential to forging a durable and peaceful resolution to a conflict that continues to cast a long shadow over the region.

With IANS inputs