Two Thai F-16 fighter jets dropped seven bombs in Pursat Province, Cambodia, and damaged a bridge amid escalating tensions that caused Cambodian officials to close border crossings on Saturday. Photo by Agence Kampuchea Presse/EPA
Dec. 13 (UPI) — Cambodian officials closed all border crossings from Thailand as fighting continues between the two nations despite a claimed cease-fire.
The Cambodian Defense Ministry said Thai forces had not stopped bombing targets in Cambodia on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The border crossings with Thailand will remain closed until further notice, ministry officials said.
President Donald Trump on Friday night announced a cease-fire agreement had been reached between Thai and Cambodian officials after he spoke with them.
They agreed to “cease shooting effective this evening” and resume an agreement signed in October, Trump said in a social media post, adding that “both countries are ready for peace,” as reported by the BBC.
Leaders from the respective nations did not say they reached a cease-fire, though.
“Thailand will continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people,” Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnivirakul said, as reported by The New York Times.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet confirmed speaking with Trump regarding a cease-fire but did not say an agreement had been reached.
Officials in both nations reported that bombing and artillery fire continued on Saturday, and Thai officials told media that four of the nation’s soldiers had been killed.
Thai officials said a rocket attack launched from Cambodia injured several civilians, while the four military deaths raised the total since Monday to 15, along with 270 wounded and six civilians injured.
Cambodian officials have not updated that nation’s casualty reports for Saturday after reporting Thai fighter-bombers struck hotels and a bridge. They said 11 civilians had been killed and 59 injured as of Friday.
The fighting forced the evacuation of an estimated 700,000 civilians on both sides of the Thai-Cambodia border, which extends about 500 miles from Laos in the East to the Gulf of Thailand in the west.