Thailand’s leader has said that intense fighting between Thailand and Cambodia, which has killed at least 16 people and displaced tens of thousands, could “move towards war”.
Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai’s warning comes as fighting at a disputed border entered a second day, marking a dramatic escalation of the dispute that dates back more than a century.
In Thailand, clashes in the Ubon Ratchathani and Surin provinces wounded dozens and displaced more than 100,000 civilians. Some 1,500 families in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province have been evacuated.
World leaders are calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who chairs the Association of South East Asian Nations or Asean, said he appealed to leaders of both countries for an immediate ceasefire.
“I welcome the positive signals and willingness shown by both Bangkok and Phnom Penh to consider this path forward,” Anwar wrote on Facebook late Thursday.
Despite Anwar’s optimism, fighting continued through the night.
Thailand says 14 civilians and one soldier have been killed so far. Provincial authorties in Cambodia said at least one civilian in Oddar Meanchey was killed.
At a sports complex which has been converted into an evacuation centre in Thailand’s Surin province, evacuees – many of them children and elderly – said they were still shaken by the rocket and artillery attacks they witnessed on Thursday.
Older evacuees who had lived through bombardments during the Cambodian Civil War of the 1980s told the BBC the recent fighting was the worst they had experienced.
The US has also called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians and a peaceful resolution of the conflict”.
“We are … gravely concerned by the escalating violence along the Thailand Cambodia border, and deeply saddened by reports of harm to civilians,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said at a regular media briefing.
China, which has political and strategic ties with Cambodia and Thailand, said it is “deeply concerned” over the conflict and hope both sides can resolve issues through dialogue and consultation.
Australia, the European Union and France have also called for peace.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet on Friday over the conflict.
In a letter to the council on Thursday, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet had urged it to intervene to “stop Thailand’s aggression”.
Thailand and Cambodia have accused the other of firing the first shots on Thursday.
Thailand claims the clash began with Cambodia’s military deploying drones to conduct surveillance of Thai troops near the border.
Cambodia says Thai soldiers initiated the conflict when they violated a prior agreement by advancing on a Khmer-Hindu temple near the border.
The dispute between the two countries dates back to more than a hundred years ago, when the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.
There were sporadic clashes over the years which saw soldiers and civilians killed on both sides.
The latest tensions ramped up in May after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash. This plunged bilateral ties to their lowest point in more than a decade.
Additional reporting by Lulu Luo and Jonathan Head in Surin
