Cambodian artillery damages Thai homes as border clashes escalate

Cambodian artillery blitzed Thai homes as fighting continued to rage along the border.

Cambodian forces reportedly launched a barrage of rockets toward villages in Surin province across the frontier on December 12.

Explosions rocked the disputed area near the Prasat Ta Kwai temple, and Chong Krang pass as Thailand responded with artillery fire.

Footage shows officers surveying the ruins of a home in the Phnom Dong Rak district.

Authorities said more than 80 Cambodian rockets slammed into community areas and rubber plantations in Thailand, killing two cows and tearing through houses. No casualties from the barrage have been reported so far, they added.

Fighting flared up earlier this month as the Thai army claimed Cambodian troops fired on a Thai engineering team building an access road in a disputed border area.

At least 15 Thai soldiers and one civilian have been killed since fighting resumed. In Cambodia, at least 11 civilians have died, while the number of soldiers dead is believed to be much higher.

Around 600,000 people have been displaced on both sides of the border.

Cambodia's assault has largely been wayward, unguided rockets fired indiscriminately into Thai territory, while Thailand has used precision drone strikes and fighter jet strikes on military sites.

The BBC has reported that Thailand has provided 'compelling evidence' that Cambodia has also 'laid new landmines in bad faith' that have continued to injure Thai soldiers along the border.

Former Khmer Rouge henchman and Cambodian dictator Hun Sen - who was a leading figure in the genocide of his own people in the 1970s before assuming power in 1985 and overseeing the murder of thousands of opposition figures and critics - has repeatedly claimed that he wants peace and that Thailand is the aggressor.

Thai officials claim the ongoing border confrontations are a threat to national security, and the areas must be secured.