More than 400 Thais flee Cambodia after border clashes

BANGKOK: More than 400 Thais have fled Cambodia after a deadly border clash between troops from the two countries, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman said Thursday.

No official evacuation plan is in place, but the ministry has urged all Thais not on urgent business to come home. Spokesman Tharit Charungvat said that 432 of about 1,500 Thais in Cambodia have so far heeded the warning.

"We have convinced them to return on a Thai Airways flight," Tharit said, adding that they arrived home on Wednesday.

Military transport planes remain on stand-by in case an evacuation plan needs to be implemented, he added.

Two Cambodian soldiers were killed and a handful from each side wounded Wednesday after a three-month dispute over patches of land near Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple boiled over into gunfights.

Senior military officials from both sides are due Thursday to sit down and try and ease tensions, but there are fears in the Cambodian capital of a repeat of anti-Thai riots that broke out in January 2003.

A dispute over ownership over another temple sparked a night of riots in Phnom Penh that saw Thailand's embassy and several Thai-owned businesses burned and looted, prompting Thai military planes to fly in to rescue their nationals.

Cambodia and Thailand have until recently enjoyed good relations, with many Thai businesses investing in the neighbouring country as economic growth there reaches double digits.