Cambodian troops 'fire at passenger jet': Thai army

The Siem Reap International Airport in Cambodia. Cambodian troops fired shots at a passenger aircraft flying near the country's disputed border with Thailand, believing it to be a spy plane, the Thai army said Thursday. "The Cambodian military fired because there was a Thai passenger plane -- Bangkok Airways -- which could not land at Siem Reap airport because of bad weather," a spokesman said

AFP – July ,12 ,2012

Cambodian troops fired shots at a passenger aircraft flying near the country's disputed border with Thailand, believing it to be a spy plane, the Thai army said Thursday.

"The Cambodian military fired because there was a Thai passenger plane -- Bangkok Airways -- which could not land at Siem Reap airport because of bad weather," said deputy army spokesman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong.

"It was misunderstood by Cambodia to be spy plane," he said, adding that no one was hurt in the incident near the northern Cambodian tourist destination of Siem Reap.

Cambodian military at the border -- the site of deadly territorial clashes between the neighbouring countries last year -- confirmed troops had opened fire at an aircraft.

Cambodian man shot and killed by Thai soldiers

04 January 2010
By Suon Sophalmony
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

A Cambodian citizen donned in army uniform was shot and killed by Thai soldiers who accused him of robbery. The body of the slain victim is still in the possession of Thailand.

Cambodian border troops indicated that Thailand refused to return the body of a Cambodian citizen who was shot and killed by Thai soldiers during Saturday night. Thai soldiers accused the Cambodian man who was killed of robbery inside Thai territories while still in his [Cambodian] uniform.

Pok Poch, the RCAF commander of army unit No. 3 based on Sampov Loun district, Battambang province, indicated that the Cambodian authority is currently in contact with the Thai counterpart to repatriate back the body of the slain man.

Pok Poch said: “I am continuing to do research in Phnom Dey still. [The incident] took place inside Thai territories, not inside Cambodia. But, I am doing research with merchants who trade in this area.”

According to local villagers, Thai black-clad soldiers shot a killed a man donned in paramilitary uniform in the night of 03 January, near the 4-sewer area, Klong Hat district, Srah Keo province, Thailand.

The same source confirmed that Thailand refused to return the body of the deceased Cambodian man who was wearing Cambodian army uniform to the Cambodia authority: “He went to rob [in Thailand], then the Thai ordered their soldiers to ambush him. When he got out, they killed him. The Thai said that there is no need to take to body back because they want to pursue the case. They said that Cambodians are bad.”

Keang Sothy, the deputy police inspector for Sampov Loun district, indicated that, regarding the case above, the Cambodian police heard about it, but it cannot resolve the case because the body still remains in Thailand.

RFA could not reach the Thai authority to obtain additional confirmation into this case.

An Saray, the chairman of the Khmer-Thai relationship in Phnom Dey pass, Sampov Loun district, Battambang province, said that he knows that a man was killed by Thai soldiers, but he does not know the identity of the victim.

An Saray said: “I know that they [Thai soldiers] shot and killed him, but I do not know his identity, and I do not know that he is wearing military uniform. If he is a soldier, which unit does he belong to? We can contact their soldiers, but I don’t know, if I report the case to them, it is not clear.”

Even though Cambodian soldiers tried to hide the identity of the victim, local villagers revealed that the Cambodian man who was killed seems to be a Cambodian soldier because he was still wearing a uniform.

Up to now, the reason why this Cambodian man in Cambodian army uniform was killed is not clear yet, but Cambodian soldiers seem to try to restrict all information about this case.

Cambodia protests to Thailand over logger's shooting

PHNOM PENH, Oct 22 (AFP) - Cambodia on Thursday filed a protest with neighbouring Thailand saying that Thai soldiers shot dead a man while he was cutting down trees on their border, according a diplomatic letter.

In a letter to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's foreign ministry said Thai troops on Monday "fired at a group of Cambodian villagers while they were allegedly cutting down trees in the border area."

"One man from the group, named Sim Bun Chhim, was seriously wounded and died during transport to hospital," said the letter posted on the foreign ministry's website, calling the alleged incident an "inhuman act."

The letter urged Thai authorities to investigate the "unfortunate incident and bring to justice those who committed the above acts of cruelty."

The Cambodian government said the incident was "another serious breach of internationally accepted humanitarian principles" and asked Thailand to prevent similar acts in the future.

The incident is alleged to have taken place in northern Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province, where another attack allegedly took place last month.

Cambodia in September filed a similar letter of protest to Thailand. alleging Thai soldiers shot and burned alive a teenager for illegally cutting down trees on their border.

The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

Thai troops shot and killed one Cambodian logger

13 September 2009
By Savyut
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

The Cambodian authority in Oddar Meanchey province indicated that a group of Thai border troops opened fire on more than 10 Cambodians who sneaked across the border to Thailand to log precious wood. The incident led to the death of one Cambodian citizen, one injured and several others have been reported missing.

On Suday 13 September, Pech Sokhin, the Oddar Meanchey province governor, said that, on 11 September, 12 Cambodians entered the forest located along the borderline between Cambodia and Thailand, near Samrong district, between border markers No. 12 and 13. The area is located next to Thailand’s Kap Cheung district, Surin province. The 12 Cambodians went in to log precious wood to sell, but on the day of the incident, Thailand dropped its troops from helicopter and these Thai soldiers opened fire and pursued the Cambodian villagers in order to arrest them. The incident led to one Cambodian killed, one injured, and a number of others are reported missing.

Pech Sokhin said: “Thailand used helicopter to drop their soldiers to arrest [our] people who were looking for precious wood. The dead person and the injured person were brought back home by their relatives. Of those who fled, based on what I know, 6 came back already.”

Mao Kloeung, a young man who was injured by Thai soldiers’ shooting and who fled the scene, is currently under medical care at the Samrong district hospital. On Sunday morning, he said that he and 11 other Cambodians sneaked in 4 kilometers into Thai territories. When his group was logging precious wood and cleaning up the logs, Thai soldiers opened fire on them. He was injured on his foot, one person in the group was killed on the spot.

Mao Kloeung said: “We were inside Thai territory to log wood to sell. At 1PM, I was cleaning the logs with the others, they shot and I was slightly injured, I escaped, the man who died was Rith.”

A Cambodian soldier stationed along the border between border markers No. 18 and 19, and who declined to give his name, said that Cambodian soldiers heard the gun firing inside Thailand, but Cambodian soldiers could not enter to help because the Cambodian soldiers are too far deep inside Thai territories: “With such incident, Cambodian soldiers do not dare to go help them.”

Officials from the Oddar Meanchey province said that the precious wood dealers kept on spending money to send Cambodians to sneak in and log woods inside Thai territories to sell to them. The provincial authorities have dispatched Cambodian troops along several border areas to prevent Cambodians from crossing the border, but that was in vain.

Since July 2009 until now, the Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear provincial authorities reported that 3 Cambodians were killed by Thai troops and 18 were arrested by Thai troops in Si Sa Ket and Ubon provinces when these Cambodians sneaked across the border to log precious wood to sell.