October 6, 2008
BANGKOK (AFP) - Two Thai soldiers were seriously injured Monday after stepping on a landmine near a disputed temple on the Cambodian border, a Thai official said, days after a skirmish broke out between the two sides.
A senior provincial official in Thailand's northeastern Si Sa Ket province said that one soldier lost a leg and another lost both legs in the blast.
"There was a loud noise near the Thai-Cambodian border ... (near) the spot where the clash happened between Thai and Cambodian troops," said the official, who did not want to be named.
"The noise was due to an explosion when two Thai rangers stepped on a landmine that was most likely planted by Cambodian troops before they left that area," he told AFP.
At least one Cambodian soldier and two Thai troops were wounded when units exchanged gunfire during a brief clash Friday near an ancient temple in the area.
Tensions flared in July after the Khmer temple of Preah Vihear was awarded world heritage status by the United Nations cultural body UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the site.
Those tensions turned into a military standoff, in which up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops faced off for six weeks.
Both sides agreed to pull back in mid-August, leaving just a few dozen soldiers stationed near the temple, but Cambodia and Thailand have still not agreed a lasting solution to the ownership of land around Preah Vihear.
Cambodia has said that Friday's incident happened after Thai troops strayed into their territory, but Thailand has insisted it was Cambodians who trespassed.
