BANGKOK (Reuters) -A landmine explosion on the contested Thai-Cambodia border that has threatened to derail a U.S.-brokered truce is scheduled to be investigated by ASEAN observers on Friday, Thailand said, a day after Malaysia’s Foreign Minister said a regional team had reported that mines found at the site of the incident were new.
Thailand has suspended the ceasefire deal and demanded an apology from Cambodia after accusing it of laying fresh PMN-2 landmines, one of which maimed a Thai soldier on Monday in Kantharalak district of Thailand’s Sisaket province, which is opposite Cambodia’s province of Preah Vihear.
Cambodia has denied the charge and urged Bangkok to adhere to the truce agreement signed in Malaysia late last month. The truce established an observer team, made up of military officials from Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN, to ensure Thailand and Cambodia follow through and de-escalate tensions.
On Thursday, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said ASEAN observers had reported that the landmines at the site were new, state news agency Bernama reported.
“I just got off the phone with the Thai Foreign Minister. My hope is for both sides to calm down and to continue the peace talks,” he was quoted as saying.
SHOTS ACROSS THE BORDER
Another team of observers is scheduled on Friday to conduct an on-site investigation at a disputed border area where cross-border shooting occurred on Tuesday, when at least one person in Cambodia was killed and three others injured. Cambodia said Thai troops had opened fire first, while the Thai military said Cambodia initially fired shots and Thai soldiers fired warning shots in response.
The border tensions erupted into five days of fighting in July, when at least 48 people were killed and an estimated 300,000 temporarily displaced, before a ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is the current chair of ASEAN.
Landmine blasts along disputed border areas were among the catalysts for the clashes, with at least seven Thai soldiers severely injured in mine-related incidents since July 16.
Some of these mines were likely newly laid, Reuters reported in October, based on expert analysis of material shared by Thailand’s military.
The Southeast Asian neighbours have contested sovereignty for more than a century over undemarcated points along their 817-km (508-mile) land border, first mapped in 1907 by France when it ruled Cambodia as a colony.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by John Mair)
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