Thailand carried out airstrikes along its disputed border with Cambodia on Monday after both governments accused each other of violating the fragile ceasefire. Thai officials said the escalation followed the death of a soldier and injuries to four others in early-morning clashes.
Thailand strikes Cambodia
Thailand said its air force targeted Cambodian military positions and claimed Phnom Penh had mobilised heavy weaponry and shifted combat units toward the frontier. Cambodia blamed Thailand for the flare-up, reporting four civilian deaths across Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear provinces.
The renewed fighting has forced mass evacuations on both sides of the border. Thai officials ordered more than 385,000 residents to leave high-risk areas, with tens of thousands now in shelters. Cambodia reported over 1,100 displaced families moving to safer zones.
Trump's ceasefire collapses
The confrontation comes six weeks after Donald Trump oversaw the ceasefire intended to end a brief but intense conflict that killed at least 48 people and displaced 300,000. The arrangement has remained unstable, with each government accusing the other of repeated violations, including landmine incidents and sporadic exchanges of fire.
Regional actors, including Malaysia (one of the original mediators) have urged restraint. The Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, who helped broker the original ceasefire, urged Thailand and Cambodia to avoid escalation, warning that the fighting risked "unravelling the careful work that has gone into stabilising relations between the two neighbours."