The death toll from the border dispute between Thai and Cambodian troops has risen to 15 in Thailand and one in Cambodia, according to authorities, as more than 120,000 people living along both sides of the border evacuate the ongoing fighting, reports Al Jazeera.
Deadly fighting continued for a second day on Friday as both countries traded heavy artillery and rocket fire, marking the bloodiest military exchanges between the two Southeast Asian neighbours in more than a decade.
The escalation of military exchanges could move towards war, Acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters on Friday.
"For now, the clashes have involved heavy weapons," he added.
The ongoing confrontations have taken place in 12 locations along the disputed border, rising from six the day before, a Thai military official said on Friday, suggesting a broadening of the conflict.
Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a military spokesperson, told a press conference that Cambodia had continued to use heavy weapons.
"Thai forces have responded with appropriate supporting fire following the tactical situation," the Thai military said in an earlier statement.
More than 30 Thai civilians and 15 soldiers were also injured, according to Thailand's Health Ministry, while some 100,672 people from four Thai provinces bordering Cambodia have been moved to shelters, Thailand's Ministry of Interior was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.
Meanwhile, the Khmer Times news organisation said that about 20,000 residents have evacuated from the country's northern border with Thailand, citing officials in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province.
Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts claimed that Thailand's strikes had caused "substantial damage" to the Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, according to The Phnom Penh Post.
Diplomatic sources told the AFP news agency that the United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the border fighting.
On Thursday, Thailand said it scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to bomb targets in Cambodia, while Cambodian forces launched long-range rockets towards civilian areas along the Thai border, Thailand's military said.
Both countries have blamed each other for starting the clashes in a disputed area of the border, which quickly escalated from small arms fire to heavy shelling.
The United States, a longtime treaty ally of Thailand, has called for an immediate end to the hostilities.
China, a close ally of Cambodia, said it was deeply concerned about the ongoing conflict and hoped that both countries "will properly solve their dispute through dialogue and consultation".
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