Bangkok - Thailand on Saturday issued an official protest to
the Cambodian government over an alleged border incursion and
subsequent clash that left three soldiers injured, Thai officials
said Saturday.
On Friday a Thai military patrol encountered Cambodian troops
allegedly situated about 1 kilometre inside Thai territory near the
Phreah Vihear temple, an 11th century Hindu temple that has been the
cause of many border disputes between the two neighbouring countries
for almost five decades.
'According to the Thai military the Cambodians were
definitely inside Thai territory, and the Cambodian side opened fire
first,' said Thai foreign ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat.
Two Thai soldiers and one Cambodian were wounded in the brief
firefight on the border.
The foreign ministry's permanent secretary Virsakdi Footrakul
plans to submit a formal letter of protest to the Cambodian charge
d'affaires in Bangkok over the incident at 5 p.m. Saturday, said
Tharit.
Preah Vihear, an ancient Hindu temple built on a 525-metre-
high cliff on the Dongrak mountain range that defines the Thai-
Cambodian border, has been the cause of a border conflict between
Thailand and Cambodia for decades.
In 1962, the two countries agreed to settle joint claims to the
temple at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Cambodia
won, but the court stopped short of defining the border in the area.
Thailand claims that a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjoining
the temple is still disputed.
The ancient spat got a fresh start in July when UNESCO
agreed to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site. Although the
inscription excluded the 4.6 square kilometres of disputed territory,
and Thailand protested the listing.
The spat escalated from a diplomatic row to a potential military
conflict in mid-July when three Thais were detained for entering the
disputed temple territory, and both sides dispatched military troops
to the area.
Efforts have since been made to solve the dispute diplomatically
but this path has been slowed down by political turmoil in Thailand
which last month saw its prime minister sacked for moonlighting as a
TV cook show host and had to appoint a new chief executive and
cabinet.
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