Thailand, Cambodia clash despite ceasefire hopes
The neighbours, popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists, have been locked in their bloodiest conflict in years over their disputed border, with at least 33 people confirmed killed and more than 200,000 displaced.
Both said they were willing to start talks to end the fighting, after Trump spoke to the two prime ministers late on Saturday and said they had agreed to meet and "quickly work out" a ceasefire.
But fresh artillery clashes erupted on Sunday morning near two long-contested ancient temples in the frontier region between northern Cambodia and northeast Thailand that has seen the bulk of the fighting.
Cambodian defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata said Thai forced began attacking areas around the temples at 4:50 am.
The regular thump of artillery rattled windows in the Cambodian town of Samraong, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the frontline, AFP journalists said.
Thai Army Deputy Spokesman Ritcha Suksuwanon said Cambodian forces began firing artillery around 4:00 am as the two sides battled for control of strategic positions.
- Ceasefire calls -
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Sunday said his country "agreed with the proposal for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between the two armed forces".
He said his Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn will talk to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to coordinate with the Thais, but warned Bangkok against reneging on any agreeement.
Earlier, after Trump's call, Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said he had agreed in principle to entering a ceasefire and starting talks "as soon as possible".
But he warned that Cambodia must show "sincere intention" to bring about peace.
A long-running border dispute erupted into combat this week with jets, tanks and ground troops battling in the rural border region, marked by a ridge of hills surrounded by wild jungle and agricultural land where locals farm rubber and rice.
Thailand says seven of its soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, while Cambodia has confirmed eight civilian deaths and five military.
The conflict has forced more than 138,000 people to be evacuated from Thailand's border regions, and 80,000 have been driven from their homes in Cambodia.
After an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting Friday in New York, Cambodia's UN Ambassador Chhea Keo said his country wanted "an immediate ceasefire" and a peaceful resolution of the dispute.
UN chief Antonio Guterres urged both sides Saturday to "immediately agree to a ceasefire" and hold talks to find a lasting solution.
"The Secretary-General condemns the tragic and unnecessary loss of lives, injuries to civilians and the damage to homes and infrastructure on both sides," his deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement.
Both sides have blamed the other for firing first.
Cambodia has also accused Thai forces of using cluster munitions, while Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital hit by shells.
The fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours over their shared 800-kilometre border where dozens of kilometres are contested.
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9 News
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- 9 News
Trump caps his Scottish visit by opening a new golf course and promoting his family brand
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The Advertiser
3 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Trump opens golf course in Scotland before heading home
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US President Donald Trump has formally opened a new golf course at his sprawling property in Scotland, saying he would play a quick round before heading home to focus on addressing crises in the Middle East and elsewhere. Trump, wrapping up a five-day visit to Scotland, was joined by former football players, golfers and business leaders for a first round of golf at his new second 18-hole course at Trump International near Aberdeen, Scotland. Initially billed as a private visit, the trip quickly morphed into a diplomatic mission, including a trade agreement sealed with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, bilateral meetings with British officials and phone calls aimed at ending a nascent war between Cambodia and Thailand. During a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump raised pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a worsening hunger crisis in the war-torn Palestinian enclave of Gaza. Asked at Tuesday's event what he would say to Netanyahu, Trump said he was trying to get things "straightened out". During his talks with Starmer, Trump said he disagreed with Netanyahu's assessment there was no starvation in Gaza, while giving Russian President Vladimir Putin a much tighter deadline to make progress towards ending the war in Ukraine. Flanked by his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, with several grandchildren nearby, Trump raved about the beauty of the new golf course in the dunes of northeastern Scotland, before teeing off. "I look forward to playing it today. We're going to play it very quickly, and then I go back to (Washington) DC and we put out fires all over the world," he said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new course, alluding in part to a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia. "We stopped a war - we've stopped about five wars. So that's much more important than playing golf." 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US President Donald Trump has formally opened a new golf course at his sprawling property in Scotland, saying he would play a quick round before heading home to focus on addressing crises in the Middle East and elsewhere. Trump, wrapping up a five-day visit to Scotland, was joined by former football players, golfers and business leaders for a first round of golf at his new second 18-hole course at Trump International near Aberdeen, Scotland. Initially billed as a private visit, the trip quickly morphed into a diplomatic mission, including a trade agreement sealed with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, bilateral meetings with British officials and phone calls aimed at ending a nascent war between Cambodia and Thailand. During a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump raised pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a worsening hunger crisis in the war-torn Palestinian enclave of Gaza. Asked at Tuesday's event what he would say to Netanyahu, Trump said he was trying to get things "straightened out". During his talks with Starmer, Trump said he disagreed with Netanyahu's assessment there was no starvation in Gaza, while giving Russian President Vladimir Putin a much tighter deadline to make progress towards ending the war in Ukraine. Flanked by his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, with several grandchildren nearby, Trump raved about the beauty of the new golf course in the dunes of northeastern Scotland, before teeing off. "I look forward to playing it today. We're going to play it very quickly, and then I go back to (Washington) DC and we put out fires all over the world," he said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new course, alluding in part to a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia. "We stopped a war - we've stopped about five wars. So that's much more important than playing golf." Several nations have nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, a message endorsed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a social media post in recent days. Golfers Paul McGinley and Rich Beem teed off with Trump and his son Eric, and an eclectic mix of notable figures followed. Former Chelsea and AC Milan striker and top Ukraine goal-scorer Andriy Shevchenko, who is now the president of his country's football association, was a guest, as were fellow ex-football players Robbie Fowler, Gianfranco Zola and Jim Leighton. Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who met with Trump earlier on Tuesday, also attended, along with Adrian Mardell, the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, and Alastair King, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, who represents Britain's finance industry.
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- News.com.au
Russia kills 25 in Ukraine, as Kremlin says 'committed' to peace
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it wanted to pursue peace in Ukraine hours after mounting attacks that killed at least 25 people, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman and more than a dozen prison inmates. The strikes on several regions came hours after US President Donald Trump issued Moscow with a new deadline to end its grinding invasion of Ukraine -- now in its fourth year -- or face tough new sanctions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of purposefully targeting a prison in the Zaporizhzhia region -- that Russia claims as its own -- killing 16 people and wounding more than 40 others. "It was a deliberate strike, intentional, not accidental. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians in that facility," Zelensky said on social media in response. The Kremlin denied that claim. "The Russian army does not strike civilian targets," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including from AFP. Peskov added that Moscow had "taken note" of Trump's new deadline and told journalists that it remained "committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests." - 'War crimes' - Ukraine's justice ministry said Moscow's forces hit the prison with four glide bombs, while police said 16 inmates were killed and 43 were wounded. Bricks and debris were strewn on the ground around buildings with blown-out windows, according to images released by the ministry. The facility's perimeter was intact and there was no threat that inmates would escape, it added. Rescue workers were seen searching for survivors in pictures released by the region's emergency services. A senior Ukrainian source said that 274 people were serving sentences in the Bilenkivska facility, where 30 people worked. The source added there were no Russian war prisoners being held at the centre. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the Zaporizhzhia attack was further evidence of Russian "war crimes". "People held in places of detention do not lose their right to life and protection," he wrote on social media. In addition to the glide bomb attack, the Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched 37 drones and two missiles overnight, adding that its air defence systems had downed 32 of the drones. Zelensky said that among the separate attacks, Russian forces had targeted a hospital in the town of the Kamyanske in the Dnipropetrovsk region. - Hospital targeted - "Three people were killed in the attack, including a pregnant woman. Her name was Diana. She was only 23-years-old," Zelensky said. Separate strikes in the eastern Kharkiv region that borders Russia killed six people, regional authorities said. In the southern Russian region of Rostov, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, the region's acting governor said. Kyiv has been trying to repel Russia's summer offensive, which has made fresh advances into areas largely spared since the start of the invasion in 2022. The Russian defence ministry claimed fresh advances across the sprawling front line on Tuesday, saying its forces had taken control of two more villages -- one in the Donetsk region, and another in the Zaporizhzhia region. The prison strike on Tuesday came on the three-year anniversary of a attack on another detention facility in occupied Ukrainian territory that Kyiv blamed on Moscow and that was reported to have killed dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the strike over the night of July 29 three years ago on the detention centre in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, which the Kremlin says is part of Russia. Ukraine says that dozens of its soldiers who laid down their arms after a long Russian siege of the port city of Mariupol were killed in that attack on the Olenivka detention facility.
