Thailand Launches Airstrikes On Cambodian Military Targets

(CNN); Thailand has launched airstrikes against Cambodian military targets along their long-disputed border, in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the Southeast Asian neighbors. Cambodia said it would “respond decisively” after strikes hit its territory.

The clashes come a day after a Thai soldier lost his leg to a landmine explosion at a different point along the border, prompting a downgrade of diplomatic ties by both Bangkok and Phnom Penh as relations collapsed to their lowest level in years.

The Thai embassy in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh is urging its citizens to leave the country “as soon as possible” as border clashes intensify, warning that the conflict “is likely to be prolonged and may expand further.” The embassy also advised against any non-essential travel to Cambodia.

Hours before Thailand deployed F-16 fighter jets against Cambodian military targets, armed clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces broke out along the border on Thursday, according to military officials.

They began early morning when Thailand’s military said Cambodian troops fired 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.

It also accused Cambodian troops of firing heavy weapons into a civilian area in the nearby Kap Choeng district, in Surin province.

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

Thailand and Cambodia have had a complicated relationship of both cooperation and rivalry in recent decades. They share a 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border — largely mapped by France when it ruled Cambodia — that has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.