Thailand vows to keep fighting as Trump claims new Cambodia ceasefire

Thailand’s leader vowed on Saturday to continue fighting along the disputed border with Cambodia, even as fighter jets struck targets hours after President Donald Trump said he had brokered a new ceasefire.

Caretaker Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Thailand would “continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people”.

Trump, who helped broker a ceasefire in the long-running border dispute in October, said he spoke to Anutin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Friday and that both had agreed to “cease all shooting”. However, neither leader referred to any such agreement in statements following their calls with Trump, and Anutin said there was no ceasefire in place.

“I want to make it clear. Our actions this morning already spoke,” Anutin wrote in a Facebook post. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the continued fighting.

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Hun Manet said on Facebook on Saturday that he welcomed a proposal by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has been mediating peace talks, to halt hostilities from Saturday evening. Anwar, who chairs the 10-nation Asean grouping, urged both sides to “refrain from any further military actions including the use of force or forward movement of armed units” starting at 1500 GMT.

He said an Asean observer team led by Malaysia’s chief of defence forces would be deployed to the border, with the US government providing satellite monitoring support.

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Asked about the Malaysian proposal, Anutin said “there has been no agreement on halting anything”. Thailand’s foreign minister later said Bangkok would cooperate with the observer team, but stressed that any ceasefire would need to be preceded by talks. “We can’t just announce a ceasefire while the fighting is going on,” he said.

Cambodia and Thailand have exchanged heavy-weapons fire at several points along their 817-km border since Monday, marking some of the heaviest clashes since a five-day conflict in July. Trump helped end that fighting through calls with both leaders and has since sought to intervene again to restore the truce.

Thailand suspended the ceasefire last month after a Thai soldier was seriously injured by a landmine, one of several that Bangkok says were newly laid by Cambodia. Cambodia has denied the allegation, despite having nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in August.

Thai Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri said clashes had occurred across seven border provinces, with Cambodian forces firing heavy weapons, “making it necessary for Thailand to retaliate”. The Thai army said two civilians were seriously injured when a rocket landed in Sisaket province.

Cambodia’s Information Ministry accused Thai forces of striking bridges and buildings and firing artillery from a naval vessel.

Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced since the latest fighting erupted. Speaking from a camp on the Cambodian side late on Friday, 62-year-old Mar Kly said she had fled “so many wars” in the past, including during the Khmer Rouge era. She recalled cutting part of her skirt to wrap her children’s feet to protect them from burning while walking barefoot, adding that the current conflict was between governments, not ordinary people.