Thailand and Cambodia have exchanged fire again on Monday 7 February. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that fighting had resumed Monday morning for the fourth consecutive day while the Thais tried to retrieve wounded fighting with heavy weapons from the previous day. The strong man of Phnom Penh said that one of its soldiers was killed Sunday, bringing to six the number of deaths since the outbreak of war: a civilian sides, a Thai soldier and three Cambodians.
A Thai military source has played down these new shocks, ensuring that it was a brief exchange of fire with light weapons, caused by a "misunderstanding" which lasted two minutes. The two neighbors competing since Friday around a disputed border area that houses the Temple of Preah Vihear temple, dating from the eleventh century.
They blame the incidents, the most violent for years, accusing the other of "aggression" and ensuring that they have to defend their "sovereignty." Cambodia has called an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the UN to halt "aggression" in Thailand. The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself has expressed his "deep concern" and urged both parties to "establish an agreement for the cessation of hostilities and to exercise maximum restraint." The Khmer temple, whose classification as World Heritage by UNESCO in 2008 angered Thai nationalists, under the sovereignty of Cambodia, according to a decision of the International Court of Justice in 1962.
But the Thais control its main access, and both parties claim an area of 4.6 km2 below the building that has not been delineated. Thousands of people fled from both sides. According to the governor of the Thai province of Si Sa Ket, about 15,000 people spent the night in temporary shelters, and 23 schools will remain closed until Wednesday.
Tensions have been revived after the arrest in late December of seven Thais in another disputed area. 
A Thai military source has played down these new shocks, ensuring that it was a brief exchange of fire with light weapons, caused by a "misunderstanding" which lasted two minutes. The two neighbors competing since Friday around a disputed border area that houses the Temple of Preah Vihear temple, dating from the eleventh century.
They blame the incidents, the most violent for years, accusing the other of "aggression" and ensuring that they have to defend their "sovereignty." Cambodia has called an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the UN to halt "aggression" in Thailand. The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself has expressed his "deep concern" and urged both parties to "establish an agreement for the cessation of hostilities and to exercise maximum restraint." The Khmer temple, whose classification as World Heritage by UNESCO in 2008 angered Thai nationalists, under the sovereignty of Cambodia, according to a decision of the International Court of Justice in 1962.
But the Thais control its main access, and both parties claim an area of 4.6 km2 below the building that has not been delineated. Thousands of people fled from both sides. According to the governor of the Thai province of Si Sa Ket, about 15,000 people spent the night in temporary shelters, and 23 schools will remain closed until Wednesday.
Tensions have been revived after the arrest in late December of seven Thais in another disputed area.
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