Phnom Penh, Dec 23 Thai military forces continued to use artillery and tank-mounted machine guns to fire at multiple targets in Cambodian territory as of Tuesday morning, a Cambodian defence spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The civilian death toll in Cambodia has increased to 21, as border conflict with Thailand has entered its 17th day, Defence Ministry's Undersecretary of State and Spokesperson Lt. General Maly Socheata said.
"The Thai military had attacked locations where Cambodian civilians resided, resulting in 21 civilian deaths, including one infant, and injuries to 83 others as of 6 pm on December 22," she said at a press briefing.
The Cambodia-Thailand border conflict has reignited since December 7, and both sides have accused the other of initiating the attack, Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to the latest figures released by the Cambodian Ministry of Interior, the conflict has so far forced about 545,000 Cambodians to flee their homes for safe shelters.
The Foreign Ministers of Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, who held a 'special meeting' in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur on Monday to address the current situation between Cambodia and Thailand, have urged both countries to exercise restraint and take immediate steps for the cessation of all forms of hostilities.
The meeting reaffirmed the commitment to ASEAN unity and solidarity as well as ASEAN Centrality in ensuring regional peace, security, stability and prosperity, in accordance with the ASEAN Charter. The participants of the meeting voiced serious concerns about the continued tensions and hostilities, which have caused significant casualties, damage to civilian infrastructure, and displacement of people on both sides of the border, according to the statement released by the ASEAN Chair.
The members urged Thailand and Cambodia to ensure that civilians residing in the affected border areas are able to return, without obstruction and in safety and dignity, to their homes and normal livelihoods as they existed prior to the outbreak of hostilities.
The statement said, "The Meeting urged Cambodia and Thailand to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps towards the cessation of all forms of hostilities. The Meeting called on both countries to restore mutual trust and confidence, and to return to dialogue, including through bilateral mechanisms as well as making use of the good offices of the ASEAN Chair, revive cooperation on humanitarian demining and implement military de-escalation along their shared border under the observation of the AOT, and to uphold the principles of international law, peaceful co-existence, and multilateral cooperation in the pursuit of a peaceful and durable resolution to the situation."
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