Thailand Says 12 Killed in Clashes With Cambodia as Long-Running Tensions Erupt

Thailand and Cambodia fought in their most deadly border clashes in more than a decade yesterday as Thai officials said 11 civilians and a Thai soldier were killed in rocket and artillery attacks.

- Kate Lamb Rebecca Ratcliffe

Clashes broke out yesterday morning after weeks of simmering tensions over a long-running border dispute between the south-east Asian neighbours. Both countries accused each other of opening fire first.

At least 11 Thai civilians and one soldier were killed in artillery shelling by Cambodian forces, according to Thailand's health minister, Somsak Thepsuthin, while 24 civilians and seven military personnel were wounded.

Somsak said the Cambodian shelling included a strike on a hospital in Surin province, which he said should be considered a war crime.

Those killed included an eight-year-old boy, according to the Thai military, which said people had been killed across three provinces. There was fighting at six locations, it said.

The Thai military said its air force had launched airstrikes on military targets in Cambodia.

Cambodia has not said whether it has recorded any deaths. The Cambodian defence ministry said Thai jets had dropped two bombs on a road, condemning what it described as "reckless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thailand against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia".