The United Nations Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the ongoing border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.

A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting on Thursday, with violence flaring near two temples on the border between Thailand’s Surin province and Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey.

Both countries blame the other for triggering the latest clashes.

While Cambodia fired rockets and shells into Thailand, the Thai military scrambled F-16 jets to hit military targets across the border.

They also claimed that Cambodia was using heavy weapons, including artillery and rockets.

“Cambodian forces have conducted sustained bombardment utilizing heavy weapons, field artillery, and BM-21 rocket systems,” the Thai military said in a statement. “Thai forces have responded with appropriate supporting fire in accordance with the tactical situation.”

Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai warned on Friday that the cross-border clashes “could develop into war.”

“We have tried to compromise as we are neighbors, but we have now instructed the Thai military to act immediately in case of urgency,” said Wechayachai.

“If the situation escalates, it could develop into war — though for now, it remains limited to clashes,” he told reporters in Bangkok.

The Thai Interior Ministry said the death toll on their side had risen to 14. It added that over 100,000 people from four border provinces had been moved to nearly 300 temporary shelters.

Meanwhile, Cambodia confirmed on Friday its first fatality.

A Cambodian provincial official said on Friday that at least one Cambodian civilian was killed and five others injured.

Around 1,500 Cambodian families from Banteay Ampil district in the Oddar Meanchey province near the conflict zone have been evacuated to safety, Meth Meas Pheakdey, a spokesperson for the provincial administration, said on Facebook.

What is the conflict about?

The two nations are locked in disagreement over the Emerald Triangle — an area where the borders of both countries and Laos meet, and home to several ancient temples.

Thailand and Cambodia, which share an 800-kilometer (500-mile) frontier, have been arguing over where the border should be drawn for years.

Dozens of kilometers in several areas are contested.

Fighting broke out between 2008 and 2011, but a UN court ruling in 2013 settled the matter for over a decade. (DW)

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