CAMBODIA’S powerful Senate President Hun Sen on Tuesday vowed that his country would carry out a fierce fight against Thailand as a second day of widespread renewed combat between the Southeast Asian neighbours drove tens of thousands of people to flee border areas. Fighting broke out following a skirmish in which one Thai soldier was killed on Sunday, despite a ceasefire that ended five days of fighting in July over competing territorial claims along their border, which resulted in dozens of civilian and military dead on both sides, and the evacuation of over 1,00,000 civilians. In a statement posted to Facebook and Telegram, Hun Sen claimed that his country had refrained from firing back on Monday, but overnight began to shoot back at Thai forces.

 

He wrote that a strategy of concentrating on where Thailand was advancing would allow Cambodia to “to weaken and destroy enemy forces through counterattacks.” Thailand’s army said, Cambodian forces had fired artillery at a village in Sa Kaeo province early on Tuesday morning, though the strike caused no casualties. Thailand says that Cambodian forces also fired at its troops on Sunday and Monday, as each side blames the other for firing the first shots. “Cambodia wants peace, but Cambodia is forced to fight back to defend its territory,” Hun Sen said. Hun Sen was Cambodia’s long-serving prime minister until 2023, when he was succeeded by his son Hun Manet, but is still widely seen as the country’s de facto leader. Cambodia’s military announced Tuesday that the new fighting had killed seven civilians and wounded 20.

 

A spokesperson for the Thai military announced Tuesday that one solder had been killed and 29 wounded in the new fighting. Speaking at a news conference, Thai Rear Adm. Surasant Kongsiri said the navy was strengthening its position in eastern Thailand near the border with Cambodia. Thailand on Monday carried out airstrikes along the frontier, which it said were a defensive action targeting military installations. Surasant said such operation would continue “until attacks stop.”