Cambodia-Thai clashes send over 500K people into shelters

Half a million evacuees in Cambodia and Thailand were sheltering in pagodas, schools and other safe havens on Wednesday after fleeing fresh fighting in a century-old border dispute in which US President Donald Trump has vowed to again intercede.

- Agencies

People gather to receive aid at a camp amid clashes along the Cambodia-Thailand border in Cambodia's Siem Reap province on Wednesday. At least 14 people, including Thai soldiers and Cambodian civilians, have been killed in the latest fighting.

(AFP)

At least 14 people, including Thai soldiers and Cambodian civilians, have been killed in the latest fighting, officials said, while more than 500,000 people have fled border areas near where jets, tanks and drones were waging battle.

AFP journalists in northwestern Cambodia's Samraong town on Wednesday morning heard the blasts of incoming artillery from the direction of centuries-old temples in disputed border areas.

Thailand and Cambodia dispute the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre frontier, where competing claims to historic temples have spilled over into armed conflict.