A Thai soldier smiles as he walks up to a pagoda at the Preah Vihear temple. Cambodian and Thai troops have exchanged fire near a disputed border temple -- the latest in a string of gun battles between the countries since last year.

Cambodian and Thai troops have exchanged fire near a disputed border temple -- the latest in a string of gun battles between the countries since last year

via CAAI News Media

24 January 2010

AFP - Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged fire near a disputed border temple on Sunday -- the latest in a string of gun battles between the countries since last year, military officials said.

Both sides denied responsibility for starting the morning skirmish, in which nobody was wounded but rifles and rockets were fired for around 10 minutes.

"There was a small clash. They entered our territory," Cambodian deputy military commander Chea Dara told AFP, claiming that the Thai side were the first to open fire.

"It was Cambodian self-defence. We don't allow anyone to invade our territory," he added.

A Thai army official, asking not to be named, said the clash stemmed from confusion when Thailand's soldiers were patrolling for illegal loggers near the border.

"The Thai army understood the Cambodians were smugglers, while Cambodian troops opened fire. However, it was only a warning fire. It came from a misunderstanding. Everything is now clear," he said.

The battle took place 15 kilometres southeast of the 11th century Preah Vihear temple during a speech there by Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, in which he urged troops to be brave defending their territory.

"The government position is that we want to solve the problem bilaterally and peacefully," he said.

But he added: "We are ready to solve the problem through negotiations and with any other means, even through the military. We have enough weapons, we are not afraid."

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around Preah Vihear for decades, but nationalist tensions spilled over into violence in July 2008 when the temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

A gun battle near the temple area last April left three people dead.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia. But the border between the two nations has never been fully demarcated, partly because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

Relations between the two countries plunged further in November after Cambodian PM Hun Sen appointed ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives abroad to escape a jail term for corruption, as an economic adviser.