Bangkok
Reuters
—
Thailand’s leader vowed to continue fighting on its disputed border with Cambodia as fighter jets hit targets on Saturday, hours after US President Donald Trump announced he had brokered a ceasefire.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul posted on Facebook that the Southeast Asian country “will continue military action until we feel no further harm or threat to our lands and people.”
President Trump, who brokered a ceasefire in the long-running border dispute in October, said on Friday that he had met with Anutin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and agreed to “cease all shooting.”
Neither side mentioned the agreement in statements after the phone call with Trump, and Anutin said there was no ceasefire.
“Let me be clear: our actions this morning have already spoken for themselves,” Anutin said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on continued fighting.
Hun Manet said in a statement on Facebook on Saturday that Cambodia continues to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in line with the October agreement.
Since Monday, Cambodia and Thailand have been exchanging heavy weapons fire at multiple points along their 817-kilometer (508-mile) border, the heaviest fighting since a five-day clash in July. President Trump called on both leaders to call off the worst fighting in recent memory.
President Trump, who has repeatedly said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, is keen to intervene again to save the ceasefire. Thailand suspended its mines last month after a Thai soldier was injured by one of the mines, one of which Bangkok blames on new laying by Cambodia.
Cambodia, which nominated President Trump for the Peace Prize in August, denies the landmine allegations.
On Saturday, Thai Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Surasant Khongsiri told a news conference that the clashes spanned seven border provinces and that Cambodia had fired heavy weapons, “so Thailand needs to retaliate.”
Cambodia’s Ministry of Information said Thai forces attacked bridges and buildings throughout the night and fired on artillery from naval ships.
Thai leader Anutin has rejected President Trump’s comments that the “roadside bomb” that injured a Thai soldier was accidental, saying the incident was “definitely not a roadside accident.”
Cambodia’s Hun Manet said he had called on peace mediators the United States and Malaysia to use their intelligence-gathering capabilities to “verify who fired first” in the latest fighting.
