Thai-Cambodia fighting leaves 10 dead in two days
The two countries exchanged heavy weapons fire for a second straight day on their disputed jungle frontier, the scene of a series of deadly gunbattles in recent years.
Three Cambodian troops and one Thai soldier were killed on Saturday, according to officials in the two countries, a day after three soldiers died on each side.
Cambodia accused Thailand of using 75mm
and 105mm "heavy guns loaded with poisonous gas" and said in a defence ministry statement that Thai military aircraft flew "deep into Cambodia's airspace".
Thailand denied the claims, which could not be independently verified.
A Cambodian field commander, Suos Sothea, said the gas caused some soldiers who inhaled it to feel weak but did not cause serious injury. He also accused Thailand of using cluster bombs.
Thailand recently admitted using controversial Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions during the February fighting but insisted it did not classify them as cluster munitions.
Thousands of villagers been have evacuated from nearby areas on both sides since the latest violence broke out.
"Most of the people in my village have fled their homes because many Thai artillery shells landed nearby," 29-year-old farmer Has Pov told AFP at a pagoda complex where he took refugee with his wife and two children in the Cambodian town of Samrong about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the fighting.
"I'm really scared by the shelling," he added.
Villages close to the Cambodian side of the border were emptied as people fled with their belongings.
An AFP photographer saw a house apparently damaged by shelling in a Cambodian village more than 10 kilometres from the area where the main fighting occurred.
As usual, the two countries accused each other of starting the clashes.
"All of sudden they fired at us," Thai Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon told AFP.
"It could be that they wanted to internationalise the situation to attract a third country (to intervene). We do not want to fight but have to retaliate when they fire at us," he said, calling for the resumption of bilateral talks to resolve the territorial dispute.
"We have to put pressure on them to go back to the meeting table," he said.
It is the first serious outbreak of hostilities since February when 10 people were killed in clashes near the 900-year-old Hindu temple Preah Vihear, prompting UN Security Council members to call for a lasting ceasefire.
Phnom Penh has called for outside mediation to help end the standoff, but Thailand opposes third-party intervention.
The two countries agreed in late February to allow Indonesian observers in the area near Preah Vihear, but the Thai military has since said they are not welcome and they have yet to be deployed.
The latest clashes, which saw several hours of fighting on both Friday and Saturday, have taken place near a different group of temples over 100 kilometres away from Preah Vihear.
Indonesia, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc, has called for an immediate end to the violence. Vietnam urged "maximum restraint".
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