Unconfirmed: Many Thai soldiers killed in clashes near Preah Vihear temple, 5 Thai soldiers captured and two Thai tanks destroyed

http://khmerization.blogspot.com/

via CAAI

By Khmerization

Source: Koh Santepheap

Cambodian military sources in the front lines at Sombok Khmum near Preah Vihear temple said that just 20 minutes into a one-hour fighting with Thai troops at 3 p.m today, many Thai soldiers had been found dead at their front line positions captured by Cambodian troops. The sources said that the survivors had retreated beyond the "Red House" located inside Thai territory which has been used as a Thai command base. The sources also said that the Red House was in flame and suffered a substantial damage after it was hit by Cambodian artillery shells.

The sources said that the fighting went on for more than one hour and Cambodian troops had captured many Thai positions, military hardware and consumer goods. They said many Thai bases had been burned down by Cambodian shells. They also said the Thai side raised white flags and requested to negotiate, but the Cambodian side refused because Thai troops in other front lines are still fighting.

Witnesses said that the scene of the fighting seen from the Preah Vihear temple hill looked like a mushroom cloud. Cambodian soldiers said at abandoned Thai positions there is an eerie scene of many corpses of dead Thai soldiers lying around.

According to Cambodian military sources the fighting started when Thai soldiers used bulldozers to bulldoze the "disputed area" to make a way/tract leading to Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda. The Cambodian troops warned them to stop and to retreat but they ignored the warning, so the clash erupted.

The clashes then simultaneously broke out at Phnom Trop, Veal Entry and Ta Sem, located about 7 kilometres east of Preah Vihear temple. However, at Ta Moan Thom temple in Oddar Meanchey province there was no clash, but both sides remained on high alert.

CEN reported that two Thai tanks were burned and destroyed, while 4-5 Thai soldiers were captured by Cambodian troops. There are reports that Thai soldiers had fired artillery shells into Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda and Preah Vihear temple but did not cause any significant damages. They also said that Thai soldiers had fired their artillery shells to Sa Em village, about 10 kilometres deep inside Cambodian territory, but did not cause any damages.