Cambodia on Thursday rejected Thai reports that its troops recently planted a landmine that wounded a soldier near Ta Krabey Temple along the Oddar Meanchey border, an act that would violate Phnom Penh’s commitment to ban anti-personnel mines.
According to the Thai government, the incident marks the sixth alleged case of new landmines along contested border areas since deadly clashes erupted last month.
As with all of the past cases, Cambodia issued a strong denial, repeating its past claims that the border is littered with landmines and unexploded ordinances left over from past conflicts.
Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry reiterated this denial ahead of the incident first reported Wednesday, claiming international demining groups including HALO Trust, Mines Advisory Group (MAG), and APOPO “confirmed” the mines were remnants of past wars, though none of the organizations have publicly said they investigated the incidents or verified the government’s claims.
None of the groups, which have carried out demining operations in Cambodia for decades, immediately responded to requests for comment on the government’s claim that they had confirmed the mines that wounded Thai troops were remnants, or on whether they had investigated the incidents themselves.
In a statement on August 22, MAG said it was concerned that “recent mine incidents” had occurred despite commitments by both Cambodia and Thailand to address contamination from anti-personnel mines and other explosive remnants of war along their shared border.
HALO said last week it had deployed seven survey teams to assess possible new contamination along the border and carried out hundreds of risk education sessions in the first half of August.
The Foreign Ministry statement was submitted to the chairs of the Ottawa Convention, the international treaty that bans the use of anti-personnel mines and to which both Cambodia and Thailand are signatories.
Thailand has said it will present evidence to the treaty’s governing body, accusing Cambodia of breaching its obligations.
In recent weeks, Thai authorities brought foreign journalists to sections of the border in Sisaket province, displaying Soviet-era PMN-2 mines they said were recovered following recent blasts, along with unarmed PMN-2s they claim had been held by Cambodian forces.
Heng Ratana, director of the government’s Cambodian Mine Action Committee, circulated photos allegedly showing some of the mines displayed to journalists with firing pins still intact, saying this showed they could not have been deployed by Cambodian troops.
The Royal Thai Navy also released photos and video it said came from a Cambodian soldier’s phone, showing troops laying mines, though Cambodia has rejected the material as fabricated.
The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), the national coordinating body for mine clearance, specifically rejected the allegations about Wednesday’s incident, calling them “baseless” and noting that the area, like many along the border, is heavily contaminated with landmines from past conflicts.
In its statement, CMAA said Cambodia “has not used new landmines and will never do so” and asked that any evidence regarding the incident be shared.
The series of alleged landmine explosions has added tension to the fragile ceasefire between the neighbors, which has mostly held despite persistent tensions over the past month.
Alleged mine explosions on July 16 and July 23 prompted Bangkok to recall its ambassador and preceded the initial clashes on July 24. The Thai military also claimed another soldier was injured by a mine on July 28, just before the ceasefire took effect, and said three more were wounded on August 9 while patrolling between Thailand’s Sisaket province and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province. A further blast was reported by Thai authorities on August 12 near the Ta Moan Thom temple.
