Landmine dispute escalates tensions between Thailand and Cambodia

22/7/2025 13:06

Thailand has accused Cambodia of placing landmines in a disputed border area after three soldiers were injured, but Phnom Penh denied the claim and said the soldiers had veered off agreed routes and triggered a mine left behind from decades of war.



Thai authorities said the three soldiers were injured, with one losing a foot, by a landmine while on a patrol on July 16 on the Thai side of the disputed border area between Ubon Ratchathani and Cambodia's Preah Vihear province.



Cambodia's foreign ministry denied that new mines had been planted, and said in a statement on Monday night that the Thai soldiers deviated from agreed patrol routes into Cambodian territory and into areas that contain unexploded landmines. The country is littered with landmines laid during decades of war.



The ministry said, "The Royal Government of Cambodia categorically denies these baseless and unfounded allegations." It added the country was fully committed to the Ottawa Convention, an international agreement banning antipersonnel landmines.



On Monday, the Thai army said that 10 freshly laid Russian-made PMN-2 type landmines, which are not used or stockpiled by Thailand, were found between July 18 and July 20 in areas near where the soldiers were injured.