The Thai army will return the 18 captured Cambodian soldiers to Cambodia, after the completion of legal procedures, Thai Army spokesman Maj Gen Winthai Suvaree said today.
Lt Gen Boonsin Padklang, commander of the Second Army Region, has already explained the Thai legal procedure for dealing with the captured Cambodian soldiers to the Malaysian army chief.
The presence of the Cambodian soldiers in Thai custody has become an issue after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet demanded their immediate release, stating that his government does not know their whereabouts.
“In the case of our captured fighters who, until now, we are waiting for the Thai side to send back to Cambodia, their lives have been the top priority of the Royal Government since they were captured,” Hun Manet said.
Accounts of how they were captured differ between the Thai and Cambodian sides.
Phnom Penh has accused Thailand of taking its soldiers hostage, during a planned post-ceasefire handshake between troops from both sides in the battle zone.
Cambodia claims that its troops approached, to exchange greetings in the spirit of the ceasefire, but Thai forces turned their weapons on them and arrested them without provocation.
The Thai side said, however, that the Cambodian soldiers surrendered voluntarily and agreed to be disarmed, following fierce fighting at Sam Tae in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province. Two Cambodian soldiers were also found dead.
The Thai Army says that the Cambodian soldiers have been treated in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles, with the injured receiving medical treatment.
They are currently being held in the custody of the Second Army Region. The army has distributed images of them having meals.
Meanwhile, the Second Army Region also claimed today that Cambodia has reinforced its troops along the shared border.
In a separate development, the Thai Air Force dismissed a claim, in Cambodian social media, that the 2,000 pound bomb found in a Cambodian residential area was dropped by Thai war planes during air strikes.
It said that the MK-84 bomb is old and was not of the type used by Thailand.
Meanwhile the Thai Foreign Ministry has will lead foreign military attachés and members of the media on a tour of the areas impacted by Cambodia’s shelling of civilian targets along the Thai-Cambodian border on Friday.
The ministry said today that the organised tour will provide an opportunity for Thailand to present “empirical evidence” of
Cambodia’s violations of the ceasefire agreement and its indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets, with total disregard for human rights and in breach of Thailand’s sovereignty.
The ministry also condemned Cambodia for making false allegations against Thailand during the high-level meeting of the Parliamentary Union at Geneva.
