Sawt Falasteen - Cambodia says Thailand launches air strikes after ASEAN meet on border clashes

Renewed fighting this month shattered a previous truce and has killed at least 23 people in Thailand and 20 in Cambodia, while more than 900,000 have been displaced on both sides, officials said.

Thailand's Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow announced the planned bilateral parley after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Cambodia is also a member.

He told reporters that the discussion would be held Wednesday in Thailand's Chanthaburi, within the framework of an existing bilateral border committee.

But just hours after the regional crisis talks were held in Malaysia, Cambodia's defence ministry said the Thai military deployed fighter jets to bomb areas of Siem Reap and Preah Vihear provinces.

Siem Reap province is the home of Cambodia's famed Angkor temple complex, a UNESCO heritage site. Its top tourist attraction, Angkor Wat, sits just over an hour's drive from Srae Nouy commune, parts of which were bombarded according to Phnom Penh.

The Thai army said Cambodia fired dozens of rockets into Thailand on Monday, with Bangkok's air force responding with air strikes on two Cambodian military targets.

Despite the cross-border fire, Cambodia's interior ministry said it remains "optimistic that the Thai side will demonstrate sincerity" in implementing a ceasefire.

Thailand's Sihasak, however, cautioned that the upcoming meeting may not immediately produce a truce.

"Our position is a ceasefire does not come with an announcement, but must come from actions," he said.

His ministry said the two nations' militaries would "discuss implementation, related steps and verification of the ceasefire in detail".

Monday's meeting was convened by ASEAN chair Malaysia, which in late October hosted a summit where a truce declaration was signed under the auspices of US President Donald Trump.

Sihasak said that the October declaration was rushed.

"The United States wanted the declaration signed in time by the visit of President Trump," he said.

"Sometimes we really need to sit down and thrash things out so that things that we agree will really hold."

- 'Urgent attention' -

Speaking at the start of Monday's meeting, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan urged the feuding neighbours and other ASEAN representatives to "give this matter our most urgent attention".

"We must consider the wider ramifications of the continued escalation of the situation for the people we serve," Mohamad said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said last week that ASEAN must "press upon them (Thailand and Cambodia) that it is imperative for them to secure peace".

Each side has blamed the other for instigating the renewed clashes, claiming self-defence and trading accusations of attacks on civilians.

The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.

As well as the air strikes, Phnom Penh's defence ministry accused Thailand of firing artillery shells into Cambodian territory.

One civilian, a Chinese mining company worker, was wounded, Cambodia's interior ministry said.

Beijing earlier on Monday expressed hope that the two sides would "come to a ceasefire as soon as possible".

The October joint declaration overseen by Trump was meant to prolong a fragile truce reached after five days of deadly clashes in July.

- 'Peaceful means' -

Ahead of the talks in Kuala Lumpur, Cambodia said it would "reaffirm its firm position of resolving differences and disputes through all peaceful means, dialogue and diplomacy".

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak had reiterated Bangkok's conditions for negotiations, including a demand that Cambodia announce a truce first and cooperate in de-mining efforts at the border.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Washington hoped for a new ceasefire by early this week.

Trump, whose administration helped broker the previous truce alongside Malaysia and China, claimed this month that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to halt the fighting.

But Bangkok denied any such deal, with clashes continuing for two weeks and spreading to nearly all border provinces on both sides of the frontier.

burs-mba/sco/rsc

I.Saadi--SF-PST