Landmines that sparked Thai-Cambodian clash could be newly laid: Experts

But analysts are not able to determine who placed the anti-personnel ordnance

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Thai soldiers taking part in a mine-clearing operation in Khok Sung district, Sa Kaeo province, on Oct 10. Thailand accuses Cambodia of laying anti-personnel mines along parts of their joint frontier, and says they have maimed at least six Thai soldiers since July. Cambodia denies the accusations.

(PHOTO: EPA)

Thai Army Second Lieutenant Baramee Sricha was on a patrol near a disputed stretch of the border between Thailand and Cambodia on July 16, when a member of his team stepped on a landmine that detonated, severing his ankle.

The incident was a catalyst to five days of hostilities between the neighbours, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire.

It also sparked a diplomatic row over PMN-2s - Soviet-origin antipersonnel mines that litter parts of Cambodia and which Phnom Penh and Bangkok have pledged by treaty not to use.

Thailand accuses Cambodia of laying the mines along parts of their joint frontier and says PMN-2s have maimed at least six Thai soldiers since July, including the member of 2nd Lt Baramee's patrol.

Cambodia denies the accusations. It says that some Thai soldiers stepped on non-PMN-2 ordnance planted during a decades-long civil war that left it as one of the world's most heavily mined countries.

Phnom Penh has since positioned itself as a global advocate against the use of landmines. It has invested some US$1 billion (S$1.29 billion) alongside foreign donors over the past 30 years in demining operations.

Any use of antipersonnel mines by Cambodia, where tens of thousands have been killed or maimed by such ordnance since 1979, would mark a disappointing reversal in decades of public commitments, said Mr Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan of Landmine Monitor, which is part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

It would also come as some European nations threatened by Russia pull out of the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of antipersonnel landmines.