Thailand launches airstrike against Cambodia with soldier killed and at least 8 injured in deadly border clash

Isabelle Parkin

By Isabelle Parkin


Published: 08/12/2025

- 12:22

Both countries have accused the other of breaching a ceasefire agreement brokered by the US

Thailand has launched airstrikes against Cambodia as fighting broke out along the long-disputed border between the two countries.

At least one Thai soldier was killed and eight were wounded in the fresh clashes which intensified at around 5am local time today, a Thai army spokesman said.


Tensions again flared between the two countries after both accused the other of breaching a ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump in October.

Thailand's Air Force said Cambodia mobilised heavy weaponry, repositioned combat units and prepared support elements which could escalate military operations.

"These developments prompted the use of air power to deter and reduce Cambodia's military capabilities," it said in a statement.

Cambodia's defence ministry said the Thai military had launched dawn attacks on its forces at two locations, following days of provocative actions, adding that Cambodian troops had not responded.

Cambodia's influential former longtime leader Hun Sen, father of current premier Hun Manet, said Thailand's military was "aggressors" seeking to provoke a retaliatory response and urged his country's forces to exercise restraint.

"The red line for responding has already been set," Mr Sen said on social media, though he did not elaborate.

People rest at a shelter after Thailand-Cambodia border violence

Thousands of residents were evacuated as a result of the border violence

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REUTERS

"I urge commanders at all levels to educate all officers and soldiers accordingly," he added.

Three Cambodian civilians have been seriously injured in the fighting so far, according to a senior provincial official.

Cambodia's defence ministry said its forces had not retaliated.

A simmering border dispute between the countries erupted into a five-day conflict in July, before a ceasefire deal was brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and President Trump.

Thailand-Cambodia peace deal

Thailand and Cambodia signed a peace deal brokered by the US in October

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GETTY

The Malaysian leader urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint and maintain open channels of communication.

"The renewed fighting risks unravelling the careful work that has gone into stabilising relations between the two neighbours," he wrote in a post on X.

Southeast Asian countries have rarely engaged in military clashes among themselves in recent decades, with the use of cross-border air strikes even rarer.

Phichet Pholkoet, a resident of Thailand's Ban Kruat district, which adjoins Cambodia, said he has heard gunfire since early this morning.

Thailand-Cambodia violence

Residents fled after tensions again flared at the Thai-Cambodia border

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REUTERS

He said: "It startled me. The explosions were very clear. Boom boom!" I could hear everything clearly. Some are heavy artillery, some are small arms."

In Thailand, more than 385,000 civilians across four border districts were being evacuated, with more than 35,000 already housed in temporary shelters, the Thai military said.

Across the border in Cambodia, opposition politician Meach Sovannara said civilians were also moving away from the fighting along the frontier.

More than 1,100 families in Oddar Meanchey had been evacuated, authorities there said.

At least 48 people were killed and an estimated 300,000 were temporarily displaced during the July clashes, with the neighbours exchanging rockets and heavy artillery fire for five days.

Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at points along their 817km (508 mile) land border, first mapped in 1907 by France when it ruled Cambodia as a colony.

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