Thailand levels new accusations against Cambodia after mine explodes on border
Three Thai soldiers were injured while patrolling the border with Cambodia. Bangkok accuses Phnom Penh of planting new anti-personnel mines, in violation of the Ottawa Convention, while the Cambodian government claims the device that exploded is from the Vietnam War era. The incident highlights the renewed interest in these devices. Despite years of efforts and thousands of civilian casualties, Cambodia has postponed until 2030 its goal of becoming mine-free, a situation made worse by cuts in US cooperation funding.
Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Three Thai soldiers were injured on the border with Cambodia in a landmine explosion.
Thailand immediately accused Cambodia of placing new explosives on the border, which has been a source of conflict between the two Southeast Asian countries for months. For its part, the Cambodian government claims the three soldiers deviated from the agreed-upon patrol route, activating a mine dating back to the Vietnam War.
One of the Thai soldiers lost a foot in the explosion, which occurred during a routine patrol on 16 July between Ubon Ratchathani and the Cambodian province of Preah Vihear, Thai authorities reported.
This region is not far from the site where a Cambodian soldier was killed in a firefight in May, sparking an intense diplomatic standoff that has also led to a government crisis in Thailand.
Despite denials from the Cambodian Ministry of Defence, the Thai army added that it found 10 Russian-made mines between 18 and 20 July, while some local media released screenshots of a video allegedly showing a Cambodian soldier planting a Soviet-made mine on the border.
The video was apparently posted on the Military News Facebook page on Saturday, reports the Thai English-language newspaper The Nation, before it was quickly removed.
Thailand has accused Cambodia of violating the Ottawa Convention or Mine Ban Treaty, which Cambodia has often promoted, hosting two important summits last year: the 11th Meeting of the States Parties and the 5th Review Conference, dubbed the "Siem Reap-Angkor Summit for a Mine-Free World”.
This issue has returned to the forefront recently due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
In the last six months, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Ukraine have announced that they plan to abandon the treaty prohibiting signatory countries from producing, using, selling, and stockpiling anti-personnel mines.
Lithuania and Finland also added that they will resume production of the devices to protect their borders.
All countries that have withdrawn from the Convention, which entered into force in 1999, share a border with Russia; by contrast, Russia, along with the United States, China, and India, has never signed the treaty.
Cambodia, despite demining efforts in recent years, continues to be one of the countries with the highest number of unexploded devices on its territory.
According to estimates, there are still between four and six million mines dating back to the 1970s and 1980s scattered across the country, which continue to kill and injure civilians today.
The Cambodia Mine Action Centre reports that in the first four months of 2025 alone, five people have died and a dozen were injured. Over 40,000 people across the country have lost a limb to landmines, making Cambodia one of the countries with the highest amputee rates in the world.
In 2025, the Cambodian government focused on clearing 200 square kilometres of landmines, aiming to make the land safe for farming; however, the goal of becoming a mine-free country by this year has been postponed to 2030.
Following the United States’ decision to cut funding to its development agency USAID (which has covered 30 per cent of total mine clearance costs since 1993), China has decided to donate US$ 4.4 million to Cambodia in an effort to advance its demining efforts.
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