Thailand says Cambodian rocket fire has caused its first civilian death in new border fighting

KANTHARALAK, Thailand (AP) – Thailand’s government said a rocket attack from Cambodia on Sunday killed a 63-year-old villager, its first civilian death reported as a direct result of combat over the past week along the border of the two Southeast Asian nations.

Both countries confirmed that large-scale fighting, which was set off by a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers, continued Sunday. The two sides are battling over longstanding competing claims to patches of frontier land, some of which contain centuries-old temple ruins.

More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in the past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced.

Reporters from The Associated Press arrived at the scene of Sunday’s rocket impact in Sisaket province’s Kantharalak District about 10 minutes after it hit. They witnessed the body of a man totally wrapped in bandages being put on a stretcher that was taken to an ambulance.

A house a couple of hundred meters (yards) away was in flames, with village volunteers attempting to put out the fire with buckets of water. A piece of shrapnel believed to be from the same rocket was embedded nearby in the road.

The victim, identified as Don Patchapan, was killed in the heart of a residential area near a school, according to a Thai Army statement. Thai Government spokesperson Siripong Angkasakulkiat condemned Cambodia for deliberately firing into civilian areas, saying that such an action was “cruel and inhumane.”

Thailand earlier reported civilian deaths during the renewed conflict, but most of them already had underlying health issues and died during an evacuation.

Cambodia has deployed truck-mounted BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles). Each can fire up to 40 rockets at a time but cannot be precisely targeted. They have landed largely in areas from where most people have already been evacuated.

Thai authorities say Cambodia has launched thousands of the rockets on virtually a daily basis. Thailand, meanwhile, has been carrying out airstrikes with its fighter planes, with Cambodia saying the bombing continued on Sunday. Both sides have employed drones for surveillance and delivering bombs.

Residents in another village in Kantharalak said several houses there were damaged by a rocket attack Saturday. Kanbancha Charoensri, who was in the village during the attack, said several rockets landed nearby and injured a few people.

“Houses that were hit directly were totally destroyed,” he said. “The ground was shaking so much. It was so scary.”

The Thai military has acknowledged 16 of its troops have died during the fighting, and estimated Sunday that there have been at least 221 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia denounced the Thai count of its dead as disinformation but has not yet acknowledged any military casualties. It has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and more than six dozen wounded.

Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Manet delivered a morale-boosting message to his countrymen on Sunday, writing on social media that he is proud to see this nation’s strength “in this situation where our country is facing difficulties due to aggression from neighboring countries.”

The new fighting derailed a ceasefire promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July. It had been brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.

Trump announced this past Friday that the two countries had agreed at his urging to renew the ceasefire, but Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul denied making any commitment and Cambodia announced it was continuing to fight in what it said is self-defense.

A Thai Navy warship in the Gulf of Thailand joined the fighting on Saturday morning, trading fire with guns based in Cambodia’s southwestern province of Koh Kong. Each side blamed the other for initiating the exchange on a new front.

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Jintamas reported from Surin, Thailand. Sopheng Cheang contributed from Preah Netr Preah, Cambodia.