Thailand-Cambodia dispute: Shots fired at hotly contested border

(CNN): Shots were fired as Thai and Cambodian forces clashed on Thursday in a disputed area of their border, according to military officials, a day after a Thai soldier lost his leg in a landmine explosion.

The latest incidents have inflamed tensions between the two Southeast Asian neighbors, with a long-running border dispute now threatening to escalate into a broader conflict, and relations collapsing to their lowest level in years.

On Thursday, Thailand’s military accused Cambodian troops of firing at a Thai army base in an area near the ancient Ta Muen Thom Temple – which lies in disputed territory in the south of Thailand’s Surin province and in Cambodia’s northwest. It said Cambodia had deployed an unmanned drone in front of the temple before sending troops in with weapons.

“Six armed Cambodian soldiers, including those carrying RPGs, were seen approaching the barbed wire area in front of the Thai operational base,” the military said in the statement.

A Cambodian Defense Ministry spokesperson said their troops had acted in self-defense after an unprovoked incursion from Thai soldiers.

“Cambodian forces acted strictly within the bounds of self-defence, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity,” Lieutenant General Maly Socheata said.

Thailand’s Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Natthaphon Narkphanit told reporters Thursday that operations were “currently ongoing,” citing preliminary reports from the border.

At least two Thai soldiers were injured on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing a Thai army official.

Two hospitals in Thailand’s Surin province near the site of the clash have begun evacuating patients, according to Thailand’s ministry of public health.

The armed clash comes a day after a second Thai solider in a week lost his leg to a landmine explosion at a different point along the disputed border.

Five Thai soldiers were injured in the explosion, with the incident prompting Thailand to downgrade its diplomatic relations with Cambodia – recalling its ambassador from Phnom Penh and expelling the Cambodian ambassador.

Thailand also closed parts of its northeastern border to locals and tourists.

In response, Cambodia announced it has downgraded relations with Thailand “to the lowest level” and ordered all diplomatic staff to return home.

Tensions between the two neighbors had already soured in May, when a Cambodian solider was killed during a clash between Thai and Cambodian troops in which both sides opened fire in a contested border area of the Emerald Triangle, where Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet.

The dispute has since had major political consequences for Thailand and stoked nationalist fervour in both countries.

Thailand’s former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended from duties earlier this month and could face dismissal after the leak of a phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader in which she appeared to criticize her own army’s actions in the dispute.