01 Feb, 2010
Bangkok Post
TRAT : No Thai soldier has been killed in a border stand-off with Cambodian troops, the army says, denying reports Cambodian troops shot dead a Thai soldier who crossed into their territory.
Trat naval task force yesterday said a collector of forest products, not a Thai soldier, was shot dead by troops after crossing into Cambodia opposite Trat.
Prinyatham Poolpitaktham, the task force commander, said no military units had dispatched troops to patrol border areas near Cambodia's Pursat border province on Friday.
But a group of six residents had left for the border area on Thursday to collect forest products and hunt wild animals.
One was shot dead on Saturday by Cambodian troops. The other five fled and alerted a local leader, Capt Prinyatham said.
Relations on the border in this eastern province between Thailand and Cambodia were normal, he said.
Boon Seng, commander of Region 5 in Cambodia's Battambang province, who oversees the border areas near Trat province, told him Cambodia was investigating the shooting.
The villager searching for forest products was killed by a border patrol police unit, which opened fire on the group.
The patrol unit member who shot dead the villager had been moved to Battambang province pending an investigation, he said.
Lt Gen Boon Seng had expressed his regret over the incident, Capt Prinyatham said.
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