Cambodian soldiers stand guard on a road near a pagoda close to Preah Vihear temple
Thai soldiers (right) stand guard as Cambodian soldiers sit near a pagoda close to the Preah Vihear templePREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AFP) — Cambodian and Thai troops have begun to pull back from disputed territory around an ancient temple, an official said Saturday.
More than 1,000 soldiers from both countries have been stationed around a small pagoda near the Preah Vihear temple on the Cambodia-Thai border for a month in a fraught standoff.
But after a military agreement was reached on Wednesday, troops have started to withdraw "step-by-step", said Preah Vihear provincial governor Preap Tann.
"It is just step-by-step... troops from both sides have been leaving the pagoda since last night," Preap Tann told AFP.
Thai troops were gathering their tents and belongings to leave, the Cambodian military said.
They declined to give exact figures of those remaining but Cambodian General Neang Phat, a top defence official, said most troops would leave on Saturday evening.
"They will withdraw this evening and there will be only around 10 or 20 troops from both sides remaining stationed there," Neang Phat told AFP.
Security around the temple was tightened mid-afternoon with visitors prohibited and journalists banned from taking pictures of the site.
Relations between the neighbours flared up last month after Preah Vihear, which belongs to Cambodia, was awarded heritage status by the United Nations, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the 11th century Khmer temple.
On July 15, Cambodia arrested three Thai protesters for illegally crossing the border to try to reach the temple, sparking the deployment of troops from both sides on a tiny patch of disputed land near Preah Vihear.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute.
The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because the border is littered with landmines left from decades of war in Cambodia.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Thursday he had approved a 1.4 billion baht (41.7 million dollar) mine clearing operation on the border.
More than 1,000 soldiers from both countries have been stationed around a small pagoda near the Preah Vihear temple on the Cambodia-Thai border for a month in a fraught standoff.
But after a military agreement was reached on Wednesday, troops have started to withdraw "step-by-step", said Preah Vihear provincial governor Preap Tann.
"It is just step-by-step... troops from both sides have been leaving the pagoda since last night," Preap Tann told AFP.
Thai troops were gathering their tents and belongings to leave, the Cambodian military said.
They declined to give exact figures of those remaining but Cambodian General Neang Phat, a top defence official, said most troops would leave on Saturday evening.
"They will withdraw this evening and there will be only around 10 or 20 troops from both sides remaining stationed there," Neang Phat told AFP.
Security around the temple was tightened mid-afternoon with visitors prohibited and journalists banned from taking pictures of the site.
Relations between the neighbours flared up last month after Preah Vihear, which belongs to Cambodia, was awarded heritage status by the United Nations, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the 11th century Khmer temple.
On July 15, Cambodia arrested three Thai protesters for illegally crossing the border to try to reach the temple, sparking the deployment of troops from both sides on a tiny patch of disputed land near Preah Vihear.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute.
The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because the border is littered with landmines left from decades of war in Cambodia.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Thursday he had approved a 1.4 billion baht (41.7 million dollar) mine clearing operation on the border.
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