By Taryn Wilson
Sisaket/Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, Aug 2 (EFE).- Kamonrat Phonsetthalert had just left the gas station she owns in Thailand’s Sisaket province when a rocket fired from across the border in Cambodia crashed through the roof, sending a fireball into the sky.
The Jul. 24 strike was a decisive moment at the beginning of five days of artillery fire and air strikes traded during an armed conflict that killed up to 43 and displaced more than 350,000 in both countries.
Eight of the deaths occurred in the Kantharalak district gas station strike, which 44-year-old Kamonrat saw happen in front of her.
“I left and was right in front of the gas station over there. So I saw, I heard everything. I saw the rocket come and bomb… everything,” she tells EFE during a Friday visit to affected sites with diplomats from 11 countries and defense attaches from 23 nations organized by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs after Cambodia did similar this week.
Gas station owner Kamonrat Phonsetthalert recounts a rocket strike along the Thailand-Cambodia border following recent clashes, in Kantharalak District, Sisaket Province, Thailand, 01 August 2025. EFE/TARYN WILSON
“I saw the explosion of the store. The fire was very high in the sky. I was told the fire was so heavy they could not save the people in the (attached) convenience store,” Kamonrat tells reporters outside the razed building in a car park scattered with shards of glass.
“At that time, our schools were still operating normally. Everyone was going about their daily lives as usual. No one thought something like this would happen. It was a tremendous loss for innocent people who had no idea what was coming,” she adds.
Another man who lost three members of his family tells reporters that “the loss is way too much for me to handle.”
Two days after the strike, shelling also damaged Ban Sam Meng hospital, which had just been evacuated the previous day.
Military attaches from Canada (L) and USA (R) visit the affected areas along the Thailand-Cambodia border following recent clashes, at the Subdistrict Health Promoting Hospital in Kantharalak District, Sisaket Province, Thailand, 01 August 2025. EFE/EPA/NARONG SANGNAK
Thai authorities accuse Cambodia of violating international laws in targeting civilian sites with long-range weapons during the fighting, which ended with a ceasefire brokered Monday by Malaysia, although Bangkok claims Cambodia has violated the pact “repeatedly” since, which Phnom Penh denies. Nevertheless, a fragile truce appears to be holding.
About 1,000 people of all ages still remain in one of many temporary evacuation centers on the Thai side of the border. They chat together as they sit around on mats, a few in pop-up tents, all with very few belongings. Children nap in hammocks and others play nearby.
Pitsamai, 50, tells EFE she has been in the shelter since she was evacuated the same day as the gas station strike, but expects to go home in a few days.
“I just want things to calm down soon. I miss home. I miss my pets, my car, my house – I didn’t take anything with me. When we evacuated, we weren’t prepared at all,” she says.
She adds that her neighbor’s house across the road was hit.
“I was really scared. It all happened so suddenly. I was just feeding my pets when I heard the noise, and I ran out right away. I didn’t take anything with me. It was terrifying,” she says.
Another woman, 79-year-old Wan, says she lives alone in Ban Noncharoen, right near the border, when fighting started and that she took shelter but her house was damaged. “I was scared. Really scared,” she says.
Dutch defense attache Col. Norbert Johannes Moerkens acknowledged civilian victims of conflict, telling EFE he hopes the sides will soon work out their differences.
“What we’ve seen today is that mainly the civilians are the innocent victims of any conflict anywhere in the world, but we’re also happy to see that in this case Malaysia as chair of the ASEAN organization has made significant efforts to bring the two parties together again and negotiate a ceasefire,” he said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional bloc to which all three parties belong.
“We hope that both parties will be able to find a solution sooner than later,” he added.
Relatives hold pictures of loved ones killed at a convenience store inside a gas station after it was hit by the Cambodian military, in Kantharalak District, Sisaket Province, Thailand, 01 August 2025. EFE/EPA/NARONG SANGNAK
Disinfo wars
Thailand and Cambodia continue to accuse each other of firing first, which they both deny.
“There was no reason or motive (for Thailand) to fire first,” Foreign Affairs Vice Minister Russ Jalinchandra told the reporters, diplomats and defense attaches earlier Friday at Fort Sunpasitthiprasong in neighboring Ubon Ratchathani province, adding that his government had acted in self defense.
During the briefing, held to counter “Cambodian disinformation,” Thai authorities laid out a timeline of events and rejected claims that it had invaded the neighboring country.
They reiterated that the weapons the army used in the fighting were “appropriate and proportionate,” and said Thailand has neither used nor possessed chemical weapons. This countered claims attached to a photo circulating on social media, which was confirmed to be an image of a plane dropping pink flame retardant in the Los Angeles fires earlier this year.
Cambodia earlier this week condemned Thailand for using cluster munitions – bombs containing smaller bomblets, designed to scatter over a wide area. Bomblets often fail to explode on impact, posing a danger to civilians for years to come.
Thai army spokesman Maj. Gen. Winthai Savaree said Monday that their use was “necessary against military targets to enhance target destruction capabilities,” that they have “no long-term residual effects on civilians following their use,” and that Thailand was not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Human Rights Watch urged both sides against the use of cluster munitions, saying it “considers any use of the weapon in populated areas to be unlawfully indiscriminate,” and reminded them that international humanitarian law is applicable to the armed conflict.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, the two sides were scheduled to meet for further negotiations Monday in Phnom Penh, however that will now occur in Malaysia after Thailand requested that the encounter be held on neutral territory.
This latest conflict in the long-running border dispute began in February after Thailand accused Cambodia of digging trenches on its territory. Subsequent escalation left a Cambodian soldier dead in a skirmish, prompting both sides to impose a range of border restrictions.
The rift continued in mid-July when several Thai soldiers were injured in two separate incidents by landmines, which Thai authorities accused Cambodia of recently planting. Bangkok recalled its ambassador from Phnom Penh and expelled Cambodia’s, while the bilateral relationship between the countries was downgraded to its lowest level.
Soon after, on Jul. 24, direct armed conflict across the border broke out, involving BM-21 rockets fired from Cambodia and F-16 air strikes from Thailand for five days until the “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire was agreed. EFE
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