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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home...-30147973.html

One Thai villager killed by Cambodian artillery

Si Sa Ket - A Thai villager was killed when an artillery shell fell on his village Friday evening.
The shell from Cambodian side fell at his Phumsalon Village in Kanthalalak district at 6 pm, destroying five houses.
The Nation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...a-border-clash

Three killed in Thailand-Cambodia border clash

Fears battle over disputed land around Preah Vihear temple could reignite tension between south-east Asian neighbours
A Thai soldier stands guard near the Preah Vihear temple, the focus of a 900-year-old feud between Thailand and Cambodia. Photograph: Sukree Sukplang/Reuters

Two Cambodian soldiers and a Thai villager were killed in a two-hour border clash today, the latest in an ancient feud over land surrounding a 900-year-old Hindu temple.

The fatalities were the first in the militarised area since a Thai soldier was shot dead a year ago and could rekindle diplomatic tensions between the south-east Asian neighbours over the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple.

The Cambodian foreign minister, Hor Namhong, said Phnom Penh would file a complaint with the UN security council, accusing Thailand of invading his country's territory.

Both sides have accused each other of firing first in the 4.6sq km (1,137-acres) disputed area around Preah Vihear, a jungle-clad escarpment claimed by both countries, where deadly, sporadic clashes have taken place in recent years.

Several Thai soldiers were also wounded and four Thai villages were evacuated, Thai media reported. Five Thai soldiers were captured, said an army spokesman, Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

"It seems to have been a result of a misunderstanding," the Thai army chief, Prayuth Chan-ocha, told reporters. "There is no point in fighting because it could escalate and damage relations ... We don't want that."

Phnom Penh has accused the Thai army of targeting Cambodian villagers and said the fighting erupted when Thai soldiers illegally entered Cambodian territory.

"We said to them, 'Don't come in the area,' and they still came. We fired into the air and they began to shoot at us," said a Cambodian government spokesman, Khieu Kanharith.

The clash comes three days after a Cambodian court handed down jail terms of six and eight years to two Thai nationals found guilty of trespassing and spying in the border region, a verdict that has angered some in Thailand.

Shelling began at about 3pm local time and continued into early evening. Artillery shells landed on several villages on the Thai side, setting at least four houses on fire, witnesses said.

A Thai police colonel, Chatchawan Kaewchandee, said at least one villager had been killed during the shelling. "We found one body of a male villager and there might be more," he said.

The temple, known as Preah Vihear in Cambodia and Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand, sits on land that forms a natural border and has been a source of tension for generations. The international court of justice awarded it to Cambodia in 1962 but the ruling did not determine the ownership of the scrub next to the ruins, leaving scope for disagreement.