Phnom, Penh, Feb. 4 Kyodo -- (EDS: UPDATING, ADDING THAI COMMENT, CORRECTS DATE OF 2009 CLASH TO APRIL 3) An armed clash between Thai and Cambodian troops that began with artillery, mortar and gunfire around 3 p.m. Friday at a disputed border point between the two countries has become the worst battle between the sides since tensions escalated two years ago, a military spokesman has told Kyodo News.Chhum Socheat, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said there have been armed exchanges at three separate areas near Cambodia's World Heritage Preah Vihear temple, which has been a flashpoint for at least two years.
Commanders on the scene said the battle has escalated to the point where there is no longer exchange of small arms fire, but only with heavy artillery and mortars and no immediate sign of a cease fire.
The first armed conflict in the area was on Oct. 15, 2008 over competing claims to the temple and its environs, but since a clash on April 3, 2009, the situation had been tense, but quiet.
Details of the current clash remain sketchy, but Chhum Socheat said fighting erupted ''following Thai military tractors along with their troops moving up to (a) Cambodian pagoda located several hundred meters from Preah Vihear Temple.'' The clashes broke out just hours after a meeting between Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya in Cambodia's Siem Reap province, hometown of the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex.
The foreign ministers discussed a wide range of bilateral cooperation at their seventh meeting of their ''Joint Commission,'' including a pledge to hold ''gentle diplomatic talks'' to avoid military clashes, especially in the Preah Vihear border area.
*The border situation had been heating up since last weekend and was exacerbated when a Cambodian court sentenced two Thai activists on Tuesday to eight and six years in jail for espionage, illegal entry into Cambodia and trespass in an Cambodian military zone.
The pair and five other activists had entered the area under dispute and were arrested Dec. 29 last year.
Five of the group were given suspended sentences and returned to Thailand.
The harsher sentences handed down Tuesday were apparently because at least one of the pair of activists was a repeat offender.
Kasit flew to Phnom Penh after the meeting in Siem Reap and is believed to be meeting with the jailed Thai activists who are appealing their convictions and sentences.
Earlier this week, Thailand said it would hold a military exercise near the disputed border area and claimed that a Cambodian flag and a pagoda in the area of Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey Province and Thailand's Sa Kaeo Province are on disputed land.
Late Monday, the Thai Foreign Ministry issued a statement demanding Cambodia remove the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda and the flag flying over the pagoda from the area adjacent to Preah Vihear temple.
The Thai statement claimed the pagoda built by Cambodia in 1998 ''is situated on Thai territory.'' Cambodia rejected the claim.
''The Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda is legally well situated in Cambodian territory and by no means will Cambodia relocate this pagoda elsewhere and Cambodia will continue to fly its flags there,'' Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said.
Military sources at the border said both sides have been reinforcing their positions with more troops and weapons, including tanks and armored personnel vehicles, since last weekend.
In Bangkok, Royal Thai Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd told local media that Thailand believed numerous rounds of mortars fired from Cambodia onto Thai soil ''were unintended,'' but he admitted Thai military fired back.
He said, ''We fired only warning shots back as a signal that the mortars had landed on Thai territory.'' Sansern said Thailand has not prepared for war with Cambodia and no evacuation of villagers along the border has been made, but villagers and students at schools near the border where mortars had landed have been evacuated to a safe zone.
Lt. Gen. Thawatchai Samutsakhon, chief of the Second Army Area Command responsible for area bordering Cambodia, said some 10 rounds of mortars landed on the Thai side around 3:15 p.m. and he tried to get in touch with his Cambodian counterpart.
Thawatchai said he hoped the ''misunderstanding'' would be resolved soon.
(with Varunee Torsricharoen in Bangkok)
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