PHNOM PENH, April 22, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Three Cambodian soldiers were killed and six others were injured in an armed clashes on Friday morning between Cambodian and Thai troops over the border disputed areas at Ta Mon Thom temple and Ta Krabey temple in Oddar Meanchey province, a spokesman of the Cambodian Ministry of Defense said.
Lieutenant General Chhum Socheat, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, announced the figure in a press briefing.
He said that four villages nearby the fighting zones have been damaged and thousands of villagers have fled their houses.
"Up to now, we have maintained all bases, not lose any bases to Thailand," he said, adding "we still stand firmly to defend our territory integrity."
"We expressed our deepest condolences to our soldiers for their life loss to defend our territory integrity," he said.
The latest military clashes between the two countries' troops over the border disputed area began at 06:00 a.m. and ended at 12: 22 p.m. Friday, but tension still continues.
"We are investigating if Thailand has used cluster bombs and poisonous smoke in the clashes."
"The temples were damaged, but as it is still in battle field, we could not evaluate the damage to the temples," said Phay Siphan, the spokesman for the Council of Ministers, at the briefing.
"Thailand has used surveillance airplane at Thai side along the border," he said.
The latest clashes re-occurred just more than two months after the deadly clash on Feb. 4-7 at the border disputed area next to Preah Vihear temple, the World Heritage Site.
The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated and the issue of Preah Vihear temple has been an age-old dispute.
Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. Just a week after the enlistment, Cambodia and Thailand have had border conflict due to Thai claim of the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the temple, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.
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