Twelve was killed in the border clashes of Thailand-Gambodia star-news.press/wp

The Thai authorities say that the clashes between Thailand and Cambodia on their disputed borders killed twelve people.

The fighting represents an escalation of the conflict between the neighbors of Southeast Asia, which dates back more than a century.

Most of the losses were civilians and they were all three Thai provinces, according to the Thailand army, who also stated that many people were injured. Cambodia has not yet confirmed whether she suffers from any victims.

Both sides exchanged fire early on Thursday. She rapidly escalated, with Thailand Cambodia accused of firing missiles to a Thai village and attacking the hospital. Bangkok also carried out air strikes on the compassionate military targets.

Thailand closed its borders with Cambodia after telling all its citizens to leave.

Meanwhile, Cambodia has reduced its relationships with Thailand, which are accused of using “excessive power”.

Both countries asked their citizens near the border to evacuate the area, where eyewitnesses remember severe fighting.

“It is really dangerous. We are in the middle of the evacuation,” Sotian Viochan, a local resident of the Ban Dan County in Borram Province in Thailand near the Cambodian border, told the BBC.

The conflict dates back more than a hundred years, when the borders of the two countries were drawn after the French occupation of the Kambodia.

Things became officially hostile in 2008, when Cambodia tried to register the eleventh century temple in the disputed region as a UNESCO World Heritage Site – a move that was met with a hot protest from Thailand.

There were intermittent clashes over the years that witnessed soldiers and civilians on both sides.

Recent tensions increased in May after the Kambudi soldier was killed in a clash. This bilateral relationship has decreased with the lowest point in more than a decade.

In the past two months, both countries have imposed restrictions on the border on each other. Cambodia banned imports from Thailand, such as fruits and vegetables, and stopped importing energy and Internet services.

Both countries also strengthened the presence of forces along the border in recent weeks.

Prime Minister in Thailand Phumtham Wechayachai said that its conflict with Cambodia is still “sensitive” and must be processed carefully and in line with international law.

The Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manit said that his country wants to resolve the conflict safely and that “there is no choice” but “to respond by armed force against armed aggression.”

While there is a dangerous exchange of fire in the past, they have collected relatively quickly.

Although the fighting is unlikely to explode in a full war, it is currently that there is a lack of leadership in both countries with strength and confidence in the retreat from this confrontation.

Hun Manit, the son of a former strong man, has no own authority yet. Hun Sen, his father, seems ready to push this conflict more in order to burn his national credentials.

In Thailand, there is a fragile alliance government, with the support of another strong man, Thakseen Shinwatra.

Thaxin believed that he had a close personal relationship with Hun Sen and his family, and he feels betrayal of Hun Sen’s decision to leak a special conversation that led to his daughter, Petongonn Shinwatra, who was suspended as prime minister.

Additional reports by Mayyathta in Bennah.