Troops clash in disputed area along Thailand-Cambodia border

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 23, 2011 -- Updated 0901 GMT (1701 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Each side blames the other for the violence
• Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from nearby villages
• Cambodian officials accuse Thai troops of attacking
• Thai officials say Cambodia violated an agreement over weapons and troops

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Renewed clashes in a disputed area along the Thailand-Cambodia border killed at least one Thai soldier and left 11 people injured Saturday, Thailand's MCOT news agency reported.

The skirmish came a day after officials said three Thai soldiers and three Cambodian soldiers were killed in fighting there.

Each side blames the other for the violence, which erupted Friday near two temples in the Phanom Dong Rak district of Thailand's Surin province.

Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from nearby villages.

Cambodian state-run media described the situation as a "Thai invasion."

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, Cambodia's deputy prime minister said Thai troops had engaged in a "large-scale attack with many types of weapons," targeting areas around temples "deep inside Cambodian territory."

Thai army Lt. Col. Siriya Khuangsirikul accused Cambodia of violating an agreement not to bring weapons or post troops in the disputed area.

Cambodian Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat claimed Thai troops shelled and damaged temples, and flew over Cambodian territory with spy planes, Cambodia's state-run Agence Kampuchea Presse reported.

At least 10 people were killed when renewed fighting flared up in another disputed border area between the two nations in February, prompting the U.N. Security Council to issue a statement calling on both sides to implement a permanent cease-fire and "resolve the situation peacefully and through effective dialogue."

Those clashes, which lasted four days, stemmed from a longstanding conflict related to the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. Both Cambodia and Thailand lay claim to the temple, which sits atop a cliff on Cambodian soil but has its most accessible entrance on the Thai side.

At the time, each nation accused the other of firing first, according to a statement from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Conflict over the site has taken place periodically for years. In 1962, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that the site was in Cambodia, adding that the structure was "an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture."

But Thailand says the 1.8-square-mile (4.7-square-kilometer) area around Preah Vihear was never fully demarcated, and blames a map drawn at the beginning of the 20th-century during the French occupation of Cambodia.

(source: http://edition.cnn.com)

====================================