BANGKOK, Nov 10 — Thailand’s fragile peace deal with Cambodia is hanging by a thread after two Thai soldiers were seriously injured in a landmine explosion near the border, prompting Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to suspend the agreement barely a month after it was signed, Bloomberg reported.
The soldiers were on routine patrol in Thailand’s Si Sa Ket province today when they stepped on what the army suspects were newly planted mines.
It was the seventh explosion in four months, following a series of blasts in July that triggered the deadliest clashes between the two neighbours in years.
“Everything we have been doing until now will be stopped until there is more clarity,” Anutin told reporters, according to Bloomberg.
“What happened shows that the hostility hasn’t decreased as we thought it would. So we can’t proceed any further from here.”
Anutin said Thailand would freeze all activities under the Kuala Lumpur peace accords — a US- and Malaysia-brokered deal inked in October — including the planned release of 18 detained Cambodian soldiers.
The suspension comes as both sides had been preparing to withdraw heavy weapons from border zones and begin joint landmine clearance operations between November and December.
The 18 Cambodian troops have been held in Thai custody since July after border skirmishes broke out in disputed areas, Bloomberg noted.
Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence has yet to respond to requests for comment.
Thailand has also been urging Cambodia to clamp down on cyber-scam syndicates operating across the border, an issue that has further strained relations in recent years.
The prime minister has instructed the foreign and defence ministries to lodge a complaint with an observer team of South-east Asian military officials overseeing the peace process.
He is scheduled to visit the injured soldiers in Si Sa Ket tomorrow and chair a meeting to reassess Thailand’s position on the accord.
The Thai-Cambodian border has long been a flashpoint, particularly near the historic Preah Vihear Temple.
Tensions flared in July when a series of cross-border exchanges killed dozens and displaced thousands, marking one of the worst confrontations in more than a decade.
The October peace deal, signed in Kuala Lumpur under Malaysia’s chairmanship of Asean, was hailed as a breakthrough aimed at restoring stability and improving military cooperation.
But the latest mine attack, Bloomberg reported, has cast doubt on whether the fragile truce can hold.
For Malaysia and other Asean members, the escalation underscores the fragility of regional peace efforts and the enduring volatility along South-east Asia’s most militarised border.
