00:00You're with BBC News. Fighting has broken out between Thailand and Cambodia in a dramatic escalation of a border dispute that's been simmering for several months.
00:09The Thai health minister says at least 11 civilians and one soldier have been killed so far in the clashes.
00:15Thailand has used fighter jets to bomb targets across the border, while Cambodia has fired artillery and rockets into Thailand.
00:23The Thai authorities say all checkpoints between the two countries have been closed.
00:30Thailand has ordered the evacuation of nearby villages on its side of the border.
00:37On Wednesday, Bangkok announced it was expelling Cambodia's ambassador and was withdrawing its own envoy from Phnom Penh.
00:45Thailand's foreign ministry has been holding a news conference about the incident.
00:48Let's hear some of what the spokesperson had to say.
00:50The Royal Thai Government urges Cambodia to cease its repeated act, which constitutes severe violations of international law.
01:02Such actions fundamentally contradict the principles of good neighbourly relations and good faith,
01:08and will further undermine Cambodia's reputation and credibility on the global stage.
01:14There will be another briefing to the media about the situation with Thailand sealing its border with Cambodia
01:23after those military clashes have killed at least 12 people.
01:27So more details are coming in to us there on this story.
01:33Cambodia has been accused of firing rockets into a Thai village and attacking a hospital,
01:38while Thailand has carried out airstrikes on Cambodian military targets.
01:46Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Manet, issued a statement on Facebook saying,
01:50Cambodia has always adhered to a stance of resolving issues peacefully.
01:55However, in this case, we have no choice but to respond with armed force against this armed invasion.
02:00I want to speak to Panisa Emotra, who's with the BBC's Thai service.
02:04She joins us live from Bangkok.
02:05So bring us up to date with the very latest on this.
02:09Yeah, so at the moment, the both country and both officials are trying to talk into the ceasefire,
02:14but in practicals, we've still seen tensions, especially with both militaries still deploy weapons,
02:21and it still results in 12 Thai that include eight years old.
02:27And give us a bit of the background to how we've ended up in a conflict situation,
02:31what appears to be so quickly.
02:32Yeah, so the whole conflict has been between the last two or three months.
02:38It stemmed from just open fires, and that resulted in one death in Cambodian soldiers.
02:45And ever since then, there has been dispeel.
02:47Some period of time, it has been lower in terms of violence.
02:50But now this morning, as has been reported, that Cambodian open fire rocket into Thailand.
02:56And then the escalations of today has been just like going down.
03:01We have seen an attack that hit a hospital in Thailand.
03:05Villagers have to evacuate.
03:07We have talked to one of the villagers who live in the borders area that they have to evacuate their family member
03:14because they could hear the bomb, they could see the black smoke, and they have to go to the evacuation centres.
03:21And unfortunately, we have reported 12 deaths.
03:24And what is the danger of this turning into a bigger conflict between the two countries?
03:28Yeah, so we have talked to analysts, and both from the Cambodian analysts and from the Thai analysts,
03:35they have the bottom line that they want it to be a ceasefire.
03:38But it's really hard.
03:40They've seen it's really hard to come in terms together because both countries still kind of operate with the military, right?
03:47And then it's really hard because they mentioned that the military want to assert the power
03:52and they want to, of course, protect the border of each country.
03:55So at the moment, there's still not a clear path of how both countries can come to terms to talk to each other.
04:01China has expressed their feeling that they want it to be dissolved.
04:05Analysts also suggest that maybe the third party, the negotiators or the mediator,
04:11which in the past we have ASEAN trying to act in that role, but still it doesn't yield results yet.
04:16So we still wait and see who will help the both countries to dissolve this dispute.
04:22And in the meantime, how is this being felt by ordinary people in both countries?
04:27What's their reaction to the way this has escalated so quickly?
04:31So for the normal public, this has been a shock for both countries.
04:35Many analysts and many correspondents in the areas or in the region didn't really assume that these disputes will grow to decide,
04:43especially for the public.
04:44Like two months ago, I went into the border area.
04:47They were building bunker, but they still hope that the tensions would not go back in like 10 years ago
04:53when there were bombs from Cambodia drop in Thailand.
04:56But now it's all shattered.
04:58Their hope is all shattered because the tension is already there.
05:01The fighting, the death is already there.
05:03So people are really panicked.
05:04As I mentioned, we talk that people, school has been shut.
05:08Students, people, older people have to evacuate to the facility.
05:12So fear is still hanging around.
05:15Benissa and Marcia, thank you very much indeed for bringing us up there on that story.
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