A damaged bridge after Thai military strikes in Pursat province, amid clashes along the Cambodia-Thailand border. Photo: AFP
Thailand's leader has vowed to keep fighting on the disputed border with Cambodia as fighter jets struck targets hours after US President Donald Trump said he had brokered a new ceasefire.
Caretaker Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the Southeast Asian nation would "continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people".
Trump, who brokered a ceasefire in the long-running border dispute in October, spoke to Anutin and Cambodian premier Hun Manet on Friday (US Time) and said they had agreed to "cease all shooting".
Neither mentioned any agreement in statements after their calls with Trump, and Anutin said there was no ceasefire.
"I want to make it clear. Our actions this morning already spoke," Anutin posted on Facebook.
A White House spokeswoman said in a statement: "The President expects all parties to fully honour the commitments they have made in signing these agreements, and he will hold anyone accountable as necessary to stop the killing and ensure durable peace."
Hun Manet, in a statement on Saturday (US Time) on Facebook, said he welcomed a proposal by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has been a mediator in peace talks, to cease hostilities from Saturday evening (US Time).
Anwar, chair of the 10-nation ASEAN grouping, in a Facebook post urged both sides to "refrain from any further military actions including the use of force or forward movement of armed units" starting at 1500 GMT.
He said an ASEAN observer team led by the Malaysian chief of defence forces would be deployed to the border and the US government would provide satellite monitoring capabilities.
Anutin said "there has been no agreement on halting anything", when asked by reporters about the Malaysian proposal.
Thailand's foreign minister told a press conference the country would cooperate with the observer team, but any ceasefire would need to be preceded by talks.
"We can't just announce a ceasefire while the fighting is going on," he said.
Suspended ceasefire
Cambodia and Thailand have been exchanging heavy-weapons fire at multiple points along the 817-km (508-mile) border since Monday (US Time), in some of the heaviest fighting since a five-day clash in July. Trump halted that fighting, the worst in recent memory, with calls to both leaders.
Trump, who has repeatedly said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, has been keen to intervene again to rescue the truce.
Thailand suspended it last month after a Thai soldier was maimed by a landmine, one of many that Bangkok says were newly laid by Cambodia. Cambodia, which nominated Trump for the peace prize in August, rejects the landmine allegations.
Thai Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri said on Saturday (US Time) that clashes had taken place across seven border provinces and Cambodia had fired heavy weapons, "making it necessary for Thailand to retaliate".
The army said two civilians had been seriously injured after a rocket landed in Sisaket province.
Cambodia's Information Ministry said Thai forces had struck bridges and buildings and fired artillery from a naval vessel.
Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced since the fresh fighting broke out.
Speaking from a camp on the Cambodian side lit by torchlight late on Friday, 62-year-old Mar Kly said she had fled "so many wars" in the past, including the Khmer Rouge regime.
"At one time I cut part of my skirt to wrap my children's feet to stop burning from walking in the heat barefoot," she said, adding that the current conflict was between the two governments, not the people.
- Reuters
