December 13, 2025 | 10:10 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Thailand confirmed on Saturday, December 13, 2025, that four of its soldiers were killed in a recent border clash with Cambodia. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul simultaneously rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that a ceasefire had been reached to end the deadly fighting that flared up over the last few days.
The violence between the two neighboring Southeast Asian nations is rooted in a long-standing dispute over the 800-kilometer colonial-era border demarcation. The conflict has already resulted in the displacement of over half a million people on both sides.
At least 24 people have died this week, including the four Thai soldiers who, according to the defense ministry, were killed in the border area on Saturday.
Both Thailand and Cambodia blamed each other for the renewed conflict before President Trump unilaterally announced a truce.
However, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul stated that Trump "didn't mention whether we should make a ceasefire" during their phone conversation on Friday night, Southeast Asia time.
"The two leaders did not discuss the issue," Anutin told reporters on Saturday, as reported by Daily Sabah and Times of India.
Trump's Claim
Trump had praised a "very good conversation" with both Anutin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Friday.
"They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord" agreed upon in July, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The United States, China, and Malaysia, as the head of the regional ASEAN bloc, had previously mediated a ceasefire in July after an initial five-day wave of violence killed at least 40 people.
The Truce Crumbles
The expanded ceasefire between the two neighbors began to crumble amid new violence and casualties, raising serious trust issues.
In October, Trump had endorsed a further joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia and had reportedly threatened both countries with new trade deals to agree to extend the ceasefire. However, Thailand suspended the agreement the following month after Thai soldiers were injured by landmines on the Cambodian border.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan stated in mid-November, as reported by Cambojanews, that ASEAN observers in both countries reported that the landmines were still new. The statement contradicted Phnom Penh's earlier denials of new landmine planting.
Cambodian media later claimed that the Malaysian news agency Bernama corrected its report, referring to the landmines as not new. Cambodia maintained that the exploded landmines were remnants of Cambodia's civil war decades ago, while the Thai military and independent experts assessed that some of the discovered landmines appeared new and intentionally placed along patrol routes.
Read: Cambodia Says Thailand Continues Attacks Despite Trump's Call
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