Thailand lodges protest with Cambodia over border explosion

Bangkok, Jan 6 (IANS) Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a media interview on Tuesday that the country's military has lodged a protest with Cambodia over an explosion in the border area that injured a Thai soldier.

Earlier on Tuesday, Thailand's 2nd Area Command stated on social media that Cambodia violated the ceasefire agreement by firing a mortar round in the border area at around 7:25 a.m. local time, leaving one Thai soldier injured.

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a letter to its Cambodian counterpart, notifying that Cambodia has violated the ceasefire declaration, according to Anutin.

Anutin stressed that while Thailand is strictly abiding by the ceasefire terms, it is fully prepared to respond to all possible scenarios, reports Xinhua news agency.

Thai Army spokesperson Winthai Suvaree said on Tuesday that the Thai military has issued a warning to Cambodia to exercise caution and strictly adhere to ceasefire measures.

He added that the local Thai military unit was contacted by the Cambodian side afterwards, which claimed that the incident was not intentional but rather a mistake made during their personnel's operations.

Also on Tuesday, two Cambodian soldiers were injured in the morning when an explosive accidentally exploded in a pile of garbage in a border area in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province, Cambodian Defence Ministry's Spokesperson Lt. Gen. Maly Socheata said.

The working teams of both countries have consulted, exchanged information, and jointly addressed the issue accordingly.

Some 68.4 per cent of the Cambodian evacuees from a recent border conflict with Thailand have returned to their homes so far, Cambodia's Interior Ministry Spokesperson Touch Sokhak said on Tuesday.

Sokhak said that about 444,179 out of 649,023 Cambodian evacuees have returned to their homes.

"Roughly 204,844 people, including 108,466 women and 66,892 children, remain in displacement camps," he said in a press briefing.