The Suranaree Task Force has been placed on high alert and ordered to return fire if necessary, following reports that Cambodian soldiers used rifles and grenade launchers to fire into the Chong Anh Ma pass area in Ubon Ratchathani province, a Thai Army spokesman said today.
Maj Gen Winthai Suvaree told an urgent press briefing that the 2nd Army Region reported the incident occurred at around noon.
He said the Cambodian side has frequently brought members of its temporary IOT observers to inspect the area.
The attack is therefore believed to have been a provocation intended to draw return fire from the Thai side, so that Cambodia could use it as evidence to report to the temporary IOT observers that Thailand had violated ceasefire measures.
No Thai casualties or injuries have been reported so far.
The Suranaree Task Force is responsible for safeguarding the Thai–Cambodian border across Buriram, Surin, Si Sa Ket, and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
Meanwhile some Thai families living near the Chong An Ma border pass, in Nam Yuen district of Ubon Ratchathani, have started taking their elderly, sick and children to stay with their relatives or to temporary shelters far from the border, following shooting and grenade fire this afternoon by Cambodian forces.
The Second Army Region said that Cambodian border troops opened fire with automatic rifles and grenade launchers, targeted at the Thai border at the Chong An Ma border pass, in an apparent staged manoeuvre aimed at blaming Thai troops for provoking the incident before the arrival of the Interim Observer Team.
The scheme failed because Thai troops did not return fire.
It is reported that some Thai villagers are concerned that border tensions may be increasing, hence the decision to preemptively evacuate the vulnerable, although no official evacuation has been called for yet.
Limited evacuation was also reported in Det-udom district today for the same reason.
