Explosion sounds at Thai-Cambodian border

SI SA KET, December 23 (TNA) - An explosion was heard at the Thai-Cambodian border near the Preah Vihear Temple on Friday, frightening locals, but the situation has now returned to normal. The explosion sounded to the east of the ancient Preah Vihear Temple and fractions were spotted on over 30 locations in Saothongchai locality of Kantharalak District of Thailand's northeastern Si Sa Ket Province and nearby areas on the Thai soil. Local investigators said the objects, including an about one-metre-wide plate with bolts and a connector for a communication device, were the same as those found at the Thai-Cambodian border in Kantharalak on November 24, 2003. According to local authorities, no one was hurt and the exploded parts have been collected and kept at the 23rd ad hoc paramilitary ranger unit for further investigation. However, the border situation has later returned to normal, after the authorities talked to local people. It was reported that Cambodian people also heard the explosion but they did not find any exploded fraction. Meanwhile, Thailand's opposition Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva asked the Thai foreign and defence ministers to be careful in following a provisional demilitarized zone order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying that Cambodia is legally obliged to observe the 2000 memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the Thai and Cambodian governments regarding communities, markets and temples located in the unsettled border, and that violations of the MOU by the Cambodian side have been reported, probably threatening national sovereignty. Abhisit, who is a former Thai premier, recommended that the issue be reviewed at the next meeting of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) and urged the Thai premier and the foreign minister to express a clear stance to the international community and third parties on Thailand's ownership over the disputed border area, pointing out the incumbent Thai government had failed to launch a protest or take part in a previous visit to the border areas of a delegation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (TNA)