Thai-Cambodian border clash Villagers hope to go home as leaders set to meet

SURIN, Thailand — Rice farmer Samrouy Duangsawai was up early fixing herself a morning meal of sticky rice when a series of loud blasts almost shook her off her feet.

- Philip Wen

Cambodian heavy artillery shells launched from across the nearby border had struck the next village just a few hundred metres away, the rising smoke visible in the air. The 67-year-old's thoughts quickly turned to the two young granddaughters she was helping to raise while their migrant worker parents were pulling shifts at a factory out of town.

Before she had time to fully process the situation, a pickup truck had zoomed to her front door — village leaders had ordered all elderly people and children to evacuate their homes immediately. Other than her grandchildren, Ms Samrouy left with nothing but the clothes she was wearing and an old pair of worn-thin blue rubber slippers.

"I was in such shock I couldn't tell what time of day it was," she told The Straits Times from an evacuation hub set up at the Surindra Rajabhat university campus in Surin city, in Thailand's north-east, where more than 3,000 people have camped out since fighting broke out between the Thai and Cambodian militaries on July 24.

The evacuations were part of swiftly executed contingency plans that had been drilled into Thai villagers in Surin along the border since the recent round of tensions flared in the lead-up to May 28, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a brief skirmish between the two armies. At least 30 people have been killed and more than 200,000 people displaced from both sides.

Thai and Cambodian forces extended their clashes at the disputed border into a fourth day on July 27 before Malaysia announced later that evening that the two countries had agreed to Kuala Lumpur acting as mediator in their conflict.