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The Cambodian authority in Oddar Meanchey province indicated that a group of Thai border troops opened fire on more than 10 Cambodians who sneaked across the border to Thailand to log precious wood. The incident led to the death of one Cambodian citizen, one injured and several others have been reported missing.

On Suday 13 September, Pech Sokhin, the Oddar Meanchey province governor, said that, on 11 September, 12 Cambodians entered the forest located along the borderline between Cambodia and Thailand, near Samrong district, between border markers No. 12 and 13. The area is located next to Thailand’s Kap Cheung district, Surin province. The 12 Cambodians went in to log precious wood to sell, but on the day of the incident, Thailand dropped its troops from helicopter and these Thai soldiers opened fire and pursued the Cambodian villagers in order to arrest them. The incident led to one Cambodian killed, one injured, and a number of others are reported missing.

Pech Sokhin said: “Thailand used helicopter to drop their soldiers to arrest [our] people who were looking for precious wood. The dead person and the injured person were brought back home by their relatives. Of those who fled, based on what I know, 6 came back already.”

Mao Kloeung, a young man who was injured by Thai soldiers’ shooting and who fled the scene, is currently under medical care at the Samrong district hospital. On Sunday morning, he said that he and 11 other Cambodians sneaked in 4 kilometers into Thai territories. When his group was logging precious wood and cleaning up the logs, Thai soldiers opened fire on them. He was injured on his foot, one person in the group was killed on the spot.

Mao Kloeung said: “We were inside Thai territory to log wood to sell. At 1PM, I was cleaning the logs with the others, they shot and I was slightly injured, I escaped, the man who died was Rith.”

A Cambodian soldier stationed along the border between border markers No. 18 and 19, and who declined to give his name, said that Cambodian soldiers heard the gun firing inside Thailand, but Cambodian soldiers could not enter to help because the Cambodian soldiers are too far deep inside Thai territories: “With such incident, Cambodian soldiers do not dare to go help them.”

Officials from the Oddar Meanchey province said that the precious wood dealers kept on spending money to send Cambodians to sneak in and log woods inside Thai territories to sell to them. The provincial authorities have dispatched Cambodian troops along several border areas to prevent Cambodians from crossing the border, but that was in vain.

Since July 2009 until now, the Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear provincial authorities reported that 3 Cambodians were killed by Thai troops and 18 were arrested by Thai troops in Si Sa Ket and Ubon provinces when these Cambodians sneaked across the border to log precious wood to sell.

13 September 2009
By Savyut
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer