Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire on a disputed stretch of their border today, the latest flare-up in an ancient feud over territory surrounding a 900-year-old Hindu temple.
Shelling began at about 3pm local time and was still going on more than an hour later, military officials and witnesses said. ‘There is sporadic shelling but details are very sketchy at this point,’ said a Thai army official.
A Thai regional commander in the area, Lieutenant General Thawatchai Samutsakorn, said no injuries had been reported.
The Southeast Asian neighbours have clashed before over the 11th century temple, known as Preah Vihear in Cambodia and Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand.
It sits on an escarpment that forms a natural border and has been a source of tension for generations.
The International Court of Justice awarded it to Cambodia in 1962 but the ruling did not determine the ownership of 4.6 square kilometres of scrub next to the ruins, leaving considerable scope for disagreement.
The clash comes three days after a Cambodian court handed down jail terms of eight and six years to two Thai nationalists who were found guilty of trespass and spying in the border region, a verdict that has angered some in Thailand.
