Cambodia accuses Thailand of annexing border village

Cambodia said on Jan 2 that Thai forces had taken control of a disputed border village, accusing Thailand of "annexing" the area after a truce halted deadly fighting along their contested frontier a week ago.

- 

The decades-old border dispute between the Southeast Asian neighbours erupted into military clashes several times in 2025, with fighting in December killing dozens of people and displacing more than one million on both sides.

The two countries agreed on a truce on Dec 27, pledging to freeze troop movements and end the three weeks of clashes.

On Jan 2, Cambodia's Information Minister Neth Pheaktra told AFP that the Thai military has started its "illegal annexation of Cambodian territory into Thailand, especially at Chouk Chey village".

The Thai army, without mentioning any specific locations, said in a statement that it had taken control of areas that had always belonged to Thailand but were "occupied" by Cambodia.

The Cambodian minister said that Thai forces had damaged civilian buildings, installed barbed wire and shipping containers to create a "border fence", and deployed to administer disputed areas.