PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Thai security forces clashed with protesters from Cambodia on Wednesday in a disputed border area , threatening a fragile truce reached in July after five days of armed combat.
Official statements from Cambodia said 28 people were injured over the course of several hours near what they called Prey Chan village in Banteay Meanchey province. Thai authorities referred to the same area as Ban Nong Ya Kaeo in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province.
No deaths were reported. Thai security forces used non-lethal weapons while Cambodian protesters, who appeared to be civilians, threw rocks and other objects.
Thai Army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Winthai Suvaree described the situation as a Cambodian mob encroaching on Thai territory, obstructing operations and destroying official property. He said Thai authorities regarded the incident as a provocation and an intentional violation of the ceasefire agreement.
In late July, the two countries engaged in five days of combat that killed dozens of people and displaced more than 260,000. The two countries agreed on a ceasefire only after mediation fostered by Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless they agreed on a truce.
Tensions remain high after the ceasefire, especially since Thai soldiers have been wounded by land mines while patrolling the no-man’s land between the two countries. Thailand charges that the mines are newly planted in violation of the ceasefire, an accusation vehemently denied by Cambodia.
Thai security forces “used tear gas against Cambodian civilians in an attempt to surround land that Cambodians have long lived on and cultivated,” said a Cambodian government statement issued Wednesday.
It said local Cambodians gathered to remove barbed wire that Thais were laying down, and that “Thai authorities fired live ammunition, rubber bullets, and smoke bombs at them, while also deploying high-frequency sound devices that can damage the eardrum and brain.” The statement further asserted that other “violent measures” were used, resulting in at least 28 people, including monks, fainting and sustaining serious and minor injuries.
A Thai army statement posted online said approximately 200 people came from the Cambodian side “to protest the Thai side’s actions during the deployment of barriers and concertina wire to enhance security along the Thai-Cambodian border.”
It said Thai officials explained to the crowd what they were doing, but a melee broke out and they had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to restore order, with the tear gas temporarily causing both sides to step back.
When the Thai authorities resumed setting up their barrier, violence broke out again and security forces employed tear gas, rubber bullets, and LRADs -- long-range acoustic devices that emit painfully loud high-pitched sounds -- to quell the unrest, they said.
After 5 p.m., the Cambodians began to retreat, shouting at the Thai forces and causing injuries by throwing rocks and sticks and shooting slingshots, said the Thai army statement, adding that five Thai soldiers were injured.
Thai Army spokesperson Winthai said the incident followed a similar confrontation on Tuesday, when another large crowd of Cambodians, many wielding wooden sticks and slingshots, also sought to pull down barbed wire and were restrained by the use of tear gas and rubber bullets.
The two nations’ competing territorial claims stem largely from a 1907 map drawn when Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand has argued is inaccurate.
The International Court of Justice in 1962 awarded sovereignty to Cambodia over an area that included the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple, which still riles many Thais.
The court has since reaffirmed its judgement. In June, Cambodia proposed returning to the international court to sort out the border in the disputed areas, a proposal Thailand firmly rejected.
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Peck reported from Bangkok.
In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Thai soldiers gather in Prey Chan village, along the disputed border with Thailand, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AKP via AP)
In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Thai soldiers carry barbed wire in Prey Chan village, along the disputed border with Thailand, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AKP via AP)
Cumberland, Md. (AP) — Three members of the Zizians, a cultlike group linked to six deaths across the U.S., were granted permission Friday to work together in preparation for their upcoming trial on trespassing, weapons and drug charges.
Jack LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank are among a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists drawn together by radical beliefs about veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence.
Authorities have described LaSota, a transgender woman known as Ziz, as the apparent leader of the “extremist group." Since 2022, Zizians have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left another member and a U.S. Border Patrol agent dead.
LaSota, Zajko and Blank were arrested in February after a property owner said he found them living in box trucks on his land in Frostburg, Maryland. Zajko was charged in Vermont with lying on her application to buy the gun used to kill agent David Maland in January 2025, while LaSota faces separate federal charges of being an armed fugitive.
On her way into the courthouse Friday, LaSota accused prosecutors of pressuring the trio to commit perjury by accepting plea deals and said, “They're violating our speedy trial rights.” Friday's hearing was supposed to include discussions of the trio's motions to dismiss the charges and logistics of the trial that begins Feb. 9. Much of the agenda was postponed until Jan. 30 after Zajko indicated a desire to fire her attorney.
Earlier, Allegany County Circuit Court Judge Michael Twigg agreed to allow the trio to work together on their defense. Since their arrest, LaSota and Blank have been allowed to meet, but Zajko was kept apart in what she described as “absurdly difficult circumstances.”
When the prosecutor told the judge he had reason to believe the three had already been communicating amongst themselves, LaSota interjected, “In the car ride here!”
“We should be able to talk to each other without being recorded and without fear of our notes being intercepted," LaSota said.
“We're adults. We have work to do, and we want to do our work," Zajko said.
At one point, all three spoke up in support of each other.
“I repudiate any notion of protecting me from our codefendants,” LaSota said.
“I do, too,” said Zajko.
“As do I,” Blank said.
In the Vermont case, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Zizians member Teresa Youngblut, who has pleaded not guilty to murder for her alleged involvement in the shootout. Though she initially faced lesser charges, President Donald Trump's administration had signaled early on that more serious charges were coming as part of its push for more federal executions.
At the time of the shooting, authorities had been watching Youngblut and her companion, Felix Bauckholt, for several days after a Vermont hotel employee reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing black tactical gear. She is accused of opening fire on border agents who pulled the car over on Interstate 91. An agent fired back, killing Bauckholt and wounding Youngblut.
Two other members of the Zizians group are awaiting trial in connection with the 2022 attack on a landlord in California that left another member dead. Zajko has been called a person of interest in the deaths of her parents later that year, and another member of the group is charged with killing the landlord three days before the Vermont shooting.
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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
In this image from video, Michelle Zajko, who is associated with a cultlike group known as Zizians that is linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Daniel Blank, who is associated with a cultlike group known as Zizians that is linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Jack LaSota, also known as Ziz, who is at the center of a cultlike group known as Zizians and linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Jack LaSota, also known as Ziz, who is at the center of a cultlike group known as Zizians and linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
