Three Thai soldiers sustained injuries from a landmine explosion while patrolling the Cambodia border, the army said Saturday, days after both nations finalised a detailed ceasefire following last month’s five-day conflict.
One soldier lost a foot and two others were injured after one of them stepped on a landmine as they patrolled an area between Thailand’s Sisaket and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear provinces on Saturday morning, the Thai army said.
The soldiers are being treated at a hospital, the army said.
Cambodia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The incident is the third time in a few weeks that Thai soldiers have been injured by mines while patrolling along the border. Two previous similar incidents led to the downgrading of diplomatic relations and triggered five days of violent clashes.
Deadly Border Clashes
The Southeast Asian neighbours were engaged in deadly border clashes from July 24-28, in the worst fighting between the two in more than a decade. The exchanges of artillery fire and jet fighter sorties claimed at least 43 lives and left over 300,000 people displaced on both sides.
The leaders of Cambodia and Thailand only came to the negotiating table when U.S. President Donald Trump told them that tariff negotiations would not continue unless there was peace, Reuters exclusively reported.
A fragile ceasefire has been holding since Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Thursday to allow observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to inspect disputed border areas to ensure hostilities do not resume.
Bangkok accused Cambodia of planting landmines on the Thai side of the disputed border that injured soldiers on July 16 and July 23.
Phnom Penh denied it had placed any new mines and said the soldiers had veered off agreed routes and triggered old landmines left from its decades of war.
Thailand and Cambodia have quarrelled for decades over undemarcated parts of their 817 km (508 miles) land border, which was first mapped by France in 1907 when the latter was its colony.
(With inputs from Reuters)
