Thailand has suspended the implementation of a United States-brokered ceasefire with Cambodia after a landmine explosion near their shared border injured two Thai soldiers, raising fears that tensions could reignite between the two Southeast Asian neighbors.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced on Monday that all actions under the truce would be paused until Thailand’s unspecified demands are met. “The hostility towards our national security has not decreased as we thought it would,” Anutin said following the blast, without elaborating on the nature of Thailand’s demands.
The Cambodian government has not yet responded publicly to Thailand’s announcement.
The explosion occurred Monday in Sisaket province, near Thailand’s northeastern border with Cambodia, injuring two Thai soldiers, the army said in a statement. Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit confirmed an investigation is underway to determine whether the mine was newly laid.
Thailand has repeatedly accused Cambodia of planting new mines in violation of the ceasefire signed last month, an accusation Phnom Penh has consistently denied.
Under the truce, both sides agreed to remove heavy weaponry and landmines from the border region and for Thailand to release 18 detained Cambodian soldiers. Natthaphon said Bangkok will now postpone the release pending a review of security conditions. “The army is still investigating the cause of the explosion,” Natthaphon said, adding that further steps under the peace deal would be suspended “until the situation is fully clarified.”
The fragile peace agreement was signed on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Malaysia in October after five days of border clashes in July killed at least 43 people and forced more than 300,000 civilians to flee their homes.
The truce was brokered with U.S. support and aimed to de-escalate a decades-long territorial dispute involving overlapping claims near the Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site that has often been a flashpoint for armed confrontations.
While both governments reported progress on removing some weapons, Thailand accused Cambodia of obstructing mine clearance operations, while Phnom Penh urged Bangkok to fulfill its pledge to free captured soldiers and maintain the ceasefire.
A Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Reuters last month that Phnom Penh remained “fully committed to every term of the peace deal” and called on Thailand “to honor its obligations under the agreement.”
The ceasefire was one of several peace initiatives credited to U.S. President Donald Trump, who had threatened to impose tariffs on both countries earlier this year to push them toward negotiations. Critics, however, have said such deals often address immediate violence without resolving deeper territorial disputes, making them prone to collapse.
Africa Digital News, New York
