Thai and Cambodian troops clashed at a disputed area along the border in the early morning of Jul. 24, 2025.
In a statement posted on social media, the Royal Thai Army (RTA) claimed that Cambodian soldiers opened fire around 8:20am in an area about 200 metres away from disputed Ta Muen Thom temple, which is located on the Thai–Cambodian border.
Conflicting statements
The Thai newspaper Khaosod reported that Thai soldiers retaliated in self-defence, and clashing ensued.
A Thai army spokesperson said that two Thai soldiers were wounded, Reuters reported.
According to the spokesperson, Cambodia had used multiple weapons, including rocket launchers.
However, a spokesperson for Cambodia's defence ministry said Cambodian forces responded in self-defence due to an"unprovoked incursion" by Thai troops.
The Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the situation was delicate.
"We have to be careful. We will follow international law," he told the media, as quoted by Reuters.
A day before, on Jul. 23, the Thailand degraded diplomatic relations with Cambodia following a landmine incident that injured a Thai soldier along the border, Al Jazeera reported.
The Thai government recalled the country's ambassador to Cambodia, and said it will expel Cambodia's ambassador.
Two different accounts
According to Khaosod, earlier at 7:35am that day, the Thai military had sent a team to inform Cambodia that Thailand was closing the Ta Muen Thom temple to tourism, but the discussion failed as Cambodia did not agree.
Thai officials then installed a barbed wire fence around the path up to and surrounding the temple.
The RTA said that at around 7:35am, Thai troops reported hearing the sound of a Cambodian surveillance drone flying around the temple, though they could not see it.
The RTA added that six"fully-armed Cambodian soldiers" allegedly approached the barbed wire fence around the Thai base, while the Thai military tried to negotiate to avoid conflict.
Cambodian prime minister Hun Manet, however, wrote in a Facebook post that the Thai military"launched an attack" on Jul. 24 and gave the Cambodian side"no choice" but to respond with armed forces against "armed aggression".
Cambodia's former premier Hun Sen (Hun Manet's father) also claimed in a Facebook post that two Cambodian provinces had come under shelling from the Thai military.
Dispute over landmines
Border tensions between the two countries have reignited since a brief border skirmish on May 28, 2025, that resulted in the death of a Cambodian soldier.
The fallout from the incident led to the ousting of Paetongtarn Shinawatra as Thailand's prime minister.
Although tensions later simmered, Thailand and Cambodia are now embroiled in a dispute over landmines along the border.
Thailand has accused Cambodia of recently placing landmines on the Thai side of the disputed border area after three soldiers were injured, Reuters reported on Jul. 21.
However, Cambodia denied that new mines had been planted, and said the soldiers had veered into an area in Cambodian territory that contained unexploded landmines left behind from decades of war.
