Cambodian, Thai troops exchange gunfire again

Xinhua, April 23, 2011

?Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged gunfire again Saturday morning at 6: 15 a.m. over the border disputed area at the Ta Mon Thom temple in Oddar Meanchey province, a military commander on Saturday.

"It (the fighting) starts again," said Neak Vong, deputy commander of Brigade 42 at the Ta Mon Thom temple, told Xinhua by telephone on Saturday, while commanding tank unit to fight and the rumbles of explosions on the background were heard through the telephone.

A brigadier general Thul Sovan, deputy commander of Cambodian Military Division 3, stationed at the frontline near the Preah Vihear temple, told Xinhua by telephone that the renewed fighting Saturday morning began at around 6:15 a.m.

"It's just begun and only small and light guns are being used in the fighting," he said.

This is the second consecutive day of military clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops over the border disputed areas after Friday's clashes claimed at least 6 lives of both sides' troops and injured over a dozen, forced thousands of both sides' locals to flee home.

The military clash recurs just more than two months after the deadly clash on Feb. 4-7 at the border disputed area next to the Preah Vihear temple, the World Heritage Site.

The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated and the issue of the Preah Vihear temple has been an age-old dispute.

Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. Just a week after the enlistment, Cambodia and Thailand have had a border conflict due to Thai claim of the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the temple, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.