Thailand-Cambodia border clash live: Thai army says airstrikes launched against Cambodian targets | Thailand

At least two Thai civilians were killed and two others injured by shelling from Cambodia on Thursday, according to a district official, while the Thai army said it had launched airstrikes on military targets in Cambodia.

Thailand said an F-16 fighter jet had fired into Cambodia and destroyed a military target. The army said several more jets were ready to be deployed.

“We have used air power against military targets as planned,” Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon told reporters.

Cambodia’s influential former premier Hun Sen – father of current prime minister Hun Manet – said that two Cambodian provinces had come under shelling from Thailand’s military.

In a statement posted online, Hun Manet said “Cambodia has always taken a stand to solve problems peacefully, but in this case we have no choice but to respond with armed forces against armed aggression.”

Here’s an overview of the conflict as it stands:

• Fatal clashes have broken out between Thai and Cambodian troops along a disputed section of their border with both countries accusing the other of provocation, after weeks of simmering tensions between the south-east-Asian neighbours. Clashes broke out near the Khmer Hindu temple, Ta Muen Thom, on Thursday morning.

• Both Thailand and Cambodia accused each other of opening fire first. The Thai military said Cambodian troops had opened fire near the temple, and deployed a surveillance drone before sending in troops with heavy weapons, including rocket launchers. Cambodia has denied the claims, with its ministry of national defence saying it was the Thai military that launched the first armed ***ault.

• Thailand’s military said it had closed all border checkpoints and that fighting was taking place at six different locations.

• Cambodia’s military has launched attacks targeting civilian areas in Thailand, including a hospital, causing fatalities, Thailand’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, urging its neighbour to cease actions it said were severe violations of international law. Thailand “is prepared to intensify our self-defense measures if Cambodia persists in its armed attack and violations upon Thailand’s sovereignty in accordance with international law and principles,” the ministry said in a statement.

• Earlier on Thursday, Cambodia said it was downgrading diplomatic relations with Thailand to their lowest level, expelling the Thai amb***ador and recalling all Cambodian staff from its emb***y in Bangkok. That was in response to Thailand closing its northeastern border crossings with Cambodia, withdrawing its amb***ador and expelling the Cambodian amb***ador on Wednesday to protest a landmine blast that wounded five Thai soldiers.

• The hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand that have continued to escalate in recent months were initially ignited after a Cambodian soldier was killed in May in an armed confrontation in an area both countries claim as their own.