Thailand evacuated more than 100,000 people along the Cambodian border, it said on Friday, as the two countries fought for a second day in the bloodiest military clashes between the neighbours in over a decade.
The interior ministry said 100,672 people from four border provinces had been moved to shelters, while the health ministry announced the death toll had risen to 15, of which 14 were civilians.
Cambodia’s national government has not provided details of any casualties or evacuations of civilians but a local official in Oddar Meanchey province told Reuters one civilian had been killed and five were wounded, with 1,500 families evacuated.
Thailand’s military reported clashes from before dawn on Friday in the Ubon Ratchathani and Surin provinces and said Cambodia had used artillery and Russian-made rocket systems.
“Cambodian forces have conducted sustained bombardment utilising heavy weapons, field artillery and BM-21 rocket systems,” the Thai military said in a statement.
“Thai forces have responded with appropriate supporting fire in accordance with the tactical situation.”
Both blamed each other for starting the clash on Thursday at a disputed area of the border, which quickly escalated from small arms fire to heavy shelling in at least six locations 209km (130 miles) apart along a frontier where sovereignty has been disputed for more than a century.
The worst fighting between the countries in 13 years came after Thailand on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Phnom Penh and expelled Cambodia’s envoy in response to a second Thai soldier losing a limb to a landmine that Bangkok alleged had been laid recently by rival troops, an accusation Cambodia called baseless.
Thailand said the fatalities included an eight-year-old boy. Authorities said 31 people were hurt on Thursday.
“We condemn this – using heavy weapons without a clear target, outside of conflict zones … the use of force and did not adhere to international law,” Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, told reporters.
“We remain committed to peaceful means and there should be discussions, but what happened was a provocation and we had to defend ourselves.”
Thailand’s health minister, Somsak Thepsuthin, said a hospital was hit by shelling in Surin province, an attack he said should be considered “a war crime”.
The UN security council was due to meet on Friday over the conflict. The US, a longtime treaty ally of Thailand, called for an immediate end to hostilities.
“We are … gravely concerned by the escalating violence along the Thailand-Cambodia border and deeply saddened by reports of harm to civilians,” the state department’s deputy spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, told a regular news briefing.
“The United States urges an immediate cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians and a peaceful resolution of the conflict.”
Britain’s foreign ministry on Thursday advised against all but essential travel to parts of Cambodia and Thailand.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters