The Royal Thai Army and the Thai government strongly condemned Cambodia for firing rockets at Thai residential areas, in an attack that killed 17 people on December 14, including 1 civilian.
According to the Thai military, Cambodia used a BM-21 rocket artillery system to fire at Sao Thong Chai commune, Kantharalak district, Si Sa Ket province, at around 11:50 (local time) on December 14. The area where the bullets were fired included residential areas and schools.
The Thai military said Cambodia's military actions caused serious damage to the lives and property of innocent people.
Thai government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat stressed that people are completely unrelated to military activities.
Siripong Angkasakulkiat added that Thailand could not accept Cambodias missile fires into residential areas, while asserting: This was an intentional act, not an accident as Cambodia often claims.
On the same day, the Thai Ministry of National Defense said that a military medic of the Army was killed after Cambodian forces launched a shelling of a Thai military base in Phu Makua, Si Sa Ket province, bringing the total number of Thai soldiers killed in clashes along the Thai-Cambodian border on December 14 alone to 16.
According to the spokesperson of the Thai Ministry of National Defense - Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, up to now, 327 Thai soldiers have been injured, of which the slightly injured have been treated and returned to their units.
For its part, the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense completely rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian forces attacked civilian areas, calling it an act of spreading false information.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense of the Kingdom of Cambodia - Lieutenant General Maly Socheata affirmed that Phnom Penh only targets the military goals of Thailand, forces that violate national sovereignty as well as the territorial integrity of Cambodia.
Maly Socheata also accused Thailand of deliberately conducting attacks on Cambodia's densely populated areas with heavy weapons, killing 11 people and injuring 59, according to data from December 7 to December 14.
