BANGKOK, Dec 13 — Cambodia said Thai forces, including fighter jets, continued to strike targets across their disputed border this morning, hours after United States President Donald Trump claimed to have brokered a ceasefire.
“Thai forces have not stopped the bombing yet and are still continuing the bombing,” the Cambodian information ministry said.
The Thai military countered with accusations that Cambodia was committing “repeated violations of international rules” by targeting civilian locations and laying landmines.
Thailand and Cambodia had agreed “to cease all shooting” effective yesterday, Trump said after calls with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Premier Hun Manet last night.
But neither leader referenced an agreement in statements after the call, and Anutin said there was no ceasefire. When asked about Trump’s claim, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry referred reporters to his statement.
In a statement today on Facebook, Manet referred to the call with Trump and an earlier discussion with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and said Cambodia continues to seek a peaceful resolution of disputes in line with an earlier agreement signed in Kuala Lumpur in October.
Still, Manet said he advised the US and Malaysia to use their intelligence gathering capabilities to “verify which side fired first” in the latest round of fighting.
Since Monday, Cambodia and Thailand have been firing rockets and artillery at multiple points along their disputed 817km border, in some of the heaviest fighting since their five-day clash in July.
In Kuala Lumpur during the Asean Summit in October, the two sides agreed on a process to withdraw troops and heavy weapons and release 18 Cambodian prisoners of war.
But Bangkok last month suspended that agreement after a Thai soldier was maimed in the latest in a series of incidents involving landmines that Thailand says were newly laid by Cambodia. Cambodia rejects the allegations.
