Cambodia sorry for firing Thai helicopter [-Hun Xen blinks first?]

December 19, 2011
The Nation

Trat -- Cambodia Monday expressed regret over last week's shooting of a Thai Navy helicopter and blamed misunderstanding for its mistake.

Senior local authorities and military officers from Thailand and Cambodia met at the Administrative Centre Auditorium in Trat's Klong Yai district before noon Monday. The meeting lasted about an hour behind closed doors.

[Thai] Military stays mum over chopper shooting

Captain Kittikhun Naksuk, left, commander of Trat Marine Special Unit, shakes hands with Maj Gen Yun Min, commander of the Koh Kong Command. JAKKRIT WAEWKRAIHONG

19/12/2011
Jakkrit Waewkraihong & Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post

TRAT : Military officials are saying little about the outcome of talks yesterday over a shooting incident involving a Thai military helicopter near Cambodia.

Troops from both sides met for more than two hours in Trat's Muang district about the incident, in which Cambodian troops opened fire on Thursday at a Thai helicopter delivering relief supplies near the border.

The Bell 212 helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in Ban Khao Lan in Trat province, but no one was hurt.

[Thai] Democrats blast chopper stance

18/12/2011
Bangkok Post

The Democrat Party has lashed out at Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul for failing to lodge a protest with Cambodia after its troops shot at a Thai helicopter.

Cambodian soldiers fired at a navy Bell 121 helicopter near Trat province on Thursday as it was delivering food to marines. The helicopter made an emergency landing, but no one was hurt.

The Royal Thai Marine Corps, which insisted the helicopter did not cross into Cambodian airspace, protested the shooting in a letter to the Cambodian 3rd military region chief.

Democrat spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said Mr Surapong should have sent a protest letter to Phnom Penh himself, but hasn't.

Surapong plays down Cambodian attack on chopper

Sunday December 18, 2011
The Nation

Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said yesterday that an incident in which Cambodian forces fired upon a Thai helicopter near the Cambodian border last week was a misunderstanding and would not lead to a dispute between the countries.

He said he would clear up the misunderstanding, although reports had it that Navy commander Admiral Surasak Runrerngrom had issued a letter of protest against Cambodia and closed border checkpoints and goods-transit points.

The foreign minister said the incident would not inflame the border conflict because Thailand and Cambodia enjoyed cordial relations. He said he is scheduled to meet Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on December 29, which would give him an opportunity to discuss many issues.

Vice Admiral Pongsak Riroj said the helicopter of the Chanthaburi and Trat Border Prevention Command was attacked and damaged by Cambodian forces for unknown reasons while flying in Trat on Friday. The Thai military retaliated by closing two transit points for goods in Trat's Muang and Bo Rai districts, and 30 smaller border checkpoints in Chanthaburi and Trat used by Cambodia to buy supplies for military personnel and civilians. [Ki-Media: Very cordial relations indeed!]

The checkpoint at Ban Had Lek, however, remained open.

Thai chopper shooting caused by misunderstanding: Thai navy (sic!)

BANGKOK, Dec 16 (MCOT online news) - The commandant of the Royal Thai Marine Corps on Friday said Cambodia's firing on a Thai helicopter on a border mission was caused by a misunderstanding but said that Cambodian and Thai agencies would meet Saturday to discuss measures to prevent any repetition of the incident.

Vice Admiral Pongsak Phureeroj spoke in his capacity as commander of the Chantaburi-Trat border defence forces following media reports that Cambodia's firing at a Thai Bell 212 helicopter while it was on mission to survey the border area and transport food to army personnel stationed along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Adm Pongsak said the Royal Thai Navy already submitted a protest letter to Cambodia's Military Region 3 commander after the attack.

"I definitely affirm that the Navy's helicopter did not trespass Cambodian territory but we were flying to transport food for Thai and Cambodian troops which were deployed only 50 metres away from each other and this is a regular mission," he said.

Gunfire hits Thai chopper

Friday, 16 December 2011
Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia military forces shot at a Thai military helicopter yesterday after it flew into Cambodian airspace in Koh Kong province.

Major General Dy Phen, chief of Cambodian-Thai border relations office, said the helicopter made an emergency landing after about 100 bullets were fired at it as it crossed markers in Koh Kong’s Mondul Seima district at about 1:30pm.

“They have abused the air territory of Cambodia, so we had to fire at them,” Dy Phen, who was recently promoted to the position of adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, said.

The rear of the helicopter was damaged and could not fly, so it landed at the border between Koh Kong and Pursat provinces, he said.

Thailand denies Cambodian charges of violating territory [-A thief will never admt its wrongdoing]

BANGKOK, June 5 (MCOT online news) -- Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry has denied accusations made by the Cambodian government that Thai military aircraft had violated that country's airspace recently, said Thani Thongpakdi, director-general of the Ministry's Information Department, on Sunday.

Mr Thani told journalists that the Cambodian foreign ministry had sent a protest letter to the Thai government as well as informing the Thai ambassador in Phnom Penh that Thai military aircraft had repeatedly violated its airspace recently and that Thailand planned another offensive against Cambodian territory.

The accusations were groundless, Mr Thani said.

He said the Thai foreign affairs ministry had inquired on the issue with the Thai military and was informed that Thai military planes had never intruded into Cambodian territory.

Thai spy plane trespasses into Cambodian airspace

02 June 2011
By Suon Sophalmony
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Cambodian border defense force told RFA on 01 June that a Thai spy plane trespassed into Cambodian airspace by about 1 km between border posts 35 and 36, in Kok Romeat commune, Thmor Puok district, Banteay Meanchey province which is neighboring with Thailand’s Sakaeo province.

Prak Sam, the director of the Cambodian police station in Boeung Trakuon pass, located in Thmor Puok district, Banteay Meanchey, told our reporter on Wednesday 01 June that a Thai plane trespassed into Cambodian airspace after a group of Thai cops traveled to review the location to build a Thai custom station. The station would be located next Tapraya pass, in front of Cambodia’s Boeung Trakuon pass.

In the past, Thailand asked Cambodia to build a custom and immigration station next to Tapraya pass, Tapraya district, Sakaeo province. The pass is located in front of Cambodia’s Boeung Trakuon pass. The Thai request was rejected by Cambodia because it is located in an area where these is no border agreement made yet.

Cambodia claims Thailand violated airspace

Oct 15, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Thailand violated Cambodian airspace hours before a border skirmish erupted on Wednesday, Cambodian officials said.

Cambodian and Thai soldiers on Wednesday exchanged gunfire in a disputed zone near the ancient Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border called Eagle Field, or Eagle Terrace, 300 kilometers north of the Cambodian capital, which is an important strategic point for access to Preah Vihear.

'The Thai injuries were worse, but there were casualties on both sides,' the director-general of Cambodia's Preah Vihear authority, which oversees the site, said by telephone.

'The Thai fighter jet came 8:50 am and again at 10.07 am to disturb our airspace. Cambodian soldiers wanted to fight then, but they were placated for a while.

'I do not know why fighting happened at 2.15 until 3.30 pm because I was not there,' the head of Cambodia's Preah Vihear authority, Hang Soth, said by telephone from a meeting in Phnom Penh.

He said there were casualties on both sides, but that the Thai side had borne the brunt of duel M-79, B-40 and AK-47 exchanges.

Cambodian authorities said all civilians had fled the area and it was now regarded by both sides as a conflict zone.

The Wednesday shoot-out at Eagle Terrage is important to the ongoing dispute over the Preah Vihear temple because whoever controls that area controls access to the temple, which is sacred to both sides.

A similar clash at the same site on October 3 left two Thai soldiers and one Cambodian wounded.