Thailand PM warns cross-border clashes ‘could develop into war’ as fighting spreads to 12 locations
Thailand has evacuated more than 130,000 people along the Cambodian border, it said on Friday, as the country’s leader warned cross-border clashes could develop into war.
Clashes that began on Thursday resumed early on Friday, the Thai military reported, as the two countries fought in their bloodiest military clashes in over a decade.
Fighting had taken place in 12 locations along the disputed border, a Thai military official – an expansion of the conflict that erupted a day earlier.
“This present incident of aggression is escalating and could develop to the stage of war,” Thailand’s acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters in Bangkok. “However, right now we are still at altercation level, battling with heavy weapons. What we have done so far are to protect our land and sovereignty of our nation.”
