Second Army Area protests against provocative incident by Cambodian troops in Surin

The Second Army Area has protested to the Cambodian Army over an incident where Cambodian troops crossed into Prasat Ta Muen Thom, sang their national anthem, and challenged Thai troops. Talks via the Thai-Cambodian RBC have since helped ease tensions.

The Second Army Area has lodged a formal protest with the Cambodian Army over a provocative incident in which Cambodian troops crossed the border into Prasat Ta Muen Thom in Surin, sang their national anthem, and challenged Thai troops to open fire on them.

Second Army Area Commander Lt-Gen Boonsin Padklang stated on Monday that the Suranaree Taskforce had formally protested to the Cambodian Army via the Thai-Cambodian Regional Border Committee (RBC).

The incident occurred at 12:30 pm on 13 February when a group of Cambodian soldiers crossed the border into Prasat Ta Muen Thom and began singing the Cambodian national anthem.

A unit of Thai troops stationed at the site attempted to prevent the Cambodian soldiers from singing, leading to a verbal dispute.

The leader of the Cambodian unit responded by stating that Cambodian troops would not allow Thai forces to step on the site and proceeded to challenge them to open fire.

The Thai unit asserted that they were under orders to guard the site. In response, the Cambodian unit leader declared that he would send troops to occupy the area as well. However, the unit eventually withdrew without any violence.

Prasat Ta Muen Thom is an ancient Khmer temple, which Thailand regards as being within its territory along the Thai-Cambodian border in Surin’s Phanom Dong Rak district.

On Monday, Boonsin reaffirmed that the temple is located within Thailand, although the border demarcation in the area has not yet been finalised.

He explained that Thailand has adopted a lenient approach, allowing Cambodians to visit the temple for worship on the condition that they do not engage in any actions that could be interpreted as a territorial claim.

Boonsin further stated that Thai troops disrupted the Cambodian troops’ national anthem singing to prevent them from recording a video that could later be used as evidence to support a territorial claim.

He added that after discussions with his Cambodian counterpart via the RBC, tensions have now eased.

(2025/02/17-00:00)