Bangkok – Thailand said that on Wednesday it is crossing the border with Cambodia from the northeastern provinces, as well as taking back its ambassador from Cambodia and expelting Cambodia’s ambassador, a Thai soldier lost one leg after a landmine incident.
A statement by the Thai army stated that five soldiers were injured when one of them stepped on a land mine in a border area.
The incident rapidly reacted to the Thai government. Acting Prime Minister Fummattha Vichayachai said that the Ministry of External Affairs would officially oppose Cambodia, and further measures would be considered.
Three other Thai soldiers were injured in a week after a week after stepping on a land mine and losing a leg in a separate area along the border, injuring landmine in a week, with several small areas claimed by both countries.
Thai officials say the mines were placed along the paths that were considered safe from mutual agreement. He said that the mines were Russian -made and not a type of employed by Thailand’s army.
Army statement called Cambodia “to take responsibility for the incident, which is a serious threat to peace and stability between the two countries.”
Cambodia rejected the Thai version of the events as “baseless allegations”. Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Mali Socheta said the landmine explosion occurred on the Cambodian region and alleged that Thailand had violated the 2000 agreement “about the use of roads agreed to patrol.”
Several border posts were already closed by one side or the other or on May 28, after an armed confrontation, was operated with restrictions after the relationship between neighbors, in which a Cambodian soldier was killed in one of several small competition patch of land.
Attempts to reduce the situation have enraged both countries by nationalist passion. There is historical enmity between the two countries.
There have been major political consequences in Thailand, former Prime Minister Patongtar Shinavatra was suspended from the office last month, which critics saw former Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen in a phone call as an derogatory comment about his country’s army, who leaked its recording.
Cambodia has denied that it laid new mines along the border, indicating that many unexplained mines and other ordinances remain across the country, a legacy of civil war and disturbance that began in 1970 and ended only in 1998.
Since the end of that battle, around 20,000 Cambodians have been killed and about 45,000 injured from the remaining war explosives. The number of casualties over time has declined rapidly; And last year there were only there. 49 deaths.
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Associated press writer Sofeng Chenag in Nom Penh, Cambodia contributed to the report.
