Thailand reports first civilian deaths in renewed border conflict with Cambodia

SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Thai officials on Thursday announced four civilian deaths as heavy combat fighting flared along the country's border with Cambodia, marking the country's first civilian fatalities since fighting resumed this month.

The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish Sunday that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump that ended five days of combat in July over longstanding territorial disputes.

About two dozen people have been reported killed in the latest fighting, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced on both sides of the border.

A Thai Army statement said Cambodia launched an attack on Wednesday night with artillery and mortars against Thai positions, to which it replied with the same kinds of heavy weapons, causing damage including “the destruction of enemy trucks.”

Cambodia's defense ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata on Thursday accused Thailand of violating international laws by the use of “all kinds of heavy weapons and the deployment of large number of troops to encroach the Cambodian territory.”

The combat has drawn international concern, including from Pope Leo XIV, who told an audience at the Vatican on Wednesday that he was “deeply saddened by the news of the renewed conflict.”

“There have been casualties, including among civilians, and thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes," Leo said. “I express my closeness in prayer to these dear peoples.”

The original ceasefire in July was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.

Despite the deal, the two countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued. Cambodia complained that Thailand did not return 18 soldiers it captured as the ceasefire was coming into effect, while Thailand protested after soldiers patrolling the frontier were wounded by land mines, which it alleges were newly laid by Cambodia. Cambodia insisted that the mines were left over from its decades of civil war that ended in 1999.

Trump said he expects to speak by phone with the two leaders on Thursday, and expressed confidence that he would persuade the two sides, once again, to stop the fighting.

“I think I can get them to stop fighting. Who else can do that?” Trump said on Wednesday in an exchange with reporters, in which he also repeated his exaggerated claim of settling eight wars around the globe since his return to the White House. “Every once in a while, one will flame up again and I have to put out that little flame.”

The U.S. had yet to contact Thailand following Trump’s latest remarks, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters in Bangkok on Thursday.

Anutin, reflecting nationalistic public sentiment, has repeatedly vowed to continue fighting until Thailand's sovereignty and security are assured.

In remarks on Wednesday, he did not seem to rule out negotiations with Cambodia, but said he would not do so simply at the request of Trump.

Thailand has deployed jet fighters to carry out airstrikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles).

According to data collected by public broadcaster ThaiPBS, at least six of the Thai soldiers who were killed were hit by rocket shrapnel.

The Thai army’s northeastern regional command said Thursday that some residential areas and homes near the border were damaged by BM-21 rocket launchers from Cambodian forces.

The Thai army also said it destroyed a tall crane atop a hill held by Cambodia where the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple is located, because it allegedly held electronic and optical devices used for military command and control purposes.

Thailand’s military announced Thursday that nine of its soldiers have been killed since Monday. Officials said four civilians have also died, but not as a direct result of the clashes; they had underlying health issues and most died while they were being evacuated. The military also said that more than 120 troops have been wounded.

Cambodia said Thursday that 11 civilians on its side have died and 74 others have been wounded.

The U.N.’s cultural agency, UNESCO, on Wednesday expressed its “strong concern” over fighting in the vicinity of the Preah Vihear temple, which it has designated a World Heritage site.

“UNESCO stands ready to provide the necessary technical assistance to ensure the protection of cultural property and implement any necessary safeguarding measures as soon as conditions allow,” it said.

The roots of the Thai-Cambodian border conflict lie in a history of enmity over competing territorial claims. These claims largely stem from a 1907 map created while Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand maintains is inaccurate. Tensions were exacerbated by a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling that awarded sovereignty to Cambodia, which still riles many Thais.

Sopheng Cheang in Srei Snam, Cambodia, Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok and Matthew Lee and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

This shows a house which, Thai local security forces say, was damaged by a Cambodian artillery in Surin province, Thailand, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

This shows a house which, Thai local security forces say, was damaged by a Cambodian artillery in Surin province, Thailand, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Evacuees wait for receiving a pot to cook rice as they take refuge at Chonkal in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after fleeing homes following a fighting between Thailand and Cambodia over territorial claims. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Evacuees wait for registration as they take refuge at Chonkal in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after fleeing from home following a fighting between Thailand and Cambodia over territorial claims. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A woman plays with a dog as she takes refuge at Chonkal district in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after fleeing from home following a fighting between Thailand and Cambodia over territorial claims. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian law enforcement officials on Wednesday arrested former President Luis Arce as part of a corruption investigation, opening an uncertain chapter in the country's politics a month after the inauguration of conservative President Rodrigo Paz ended 20 years of socialist rule.

A senior official in Paz's government, Marco Antonio Oviedo, told reporters that Arce had been arrested on charges of breach of duty and financial misconduct related to the alleged embezzlement of public funds during his stint as economy minister in the government of charismatic former leader Evo Morales (2006-2019).

A special police force dedicated to fighting corruption confirmed to The Associated Press that Arce was in custody at the unit's headquarters in Bolivia's capital of La Paz.

Officials described Arce’s arrest as proof of the new government’s commitment to fighting graft at the highest levels in fulfillment of its flagship campaign promise.

“It is the decision of this government to fight corruption, and we will arrest all those responsible for this massive embezzlement,” Oviedo said.

But underlining the country’s polarization, Arce’s allies said his arrest was unjustified and smacked of political persecution.

Authorities accused Arce and other officials of diverting an estimated $700 million from a state-run fund dedicated to supporting the Indigenous people and peasant farmers who formed the backbone of Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party. As Bolivia's first Indigenous president, Morales transformed the country’s power structure and gave Indigenous people more sway than ever.

Serving on the board of directors of the Indigenous Peasant Development Fund from 2006 to 2017, Arce was in charge of allocating funds to social development projects in rural areas. During that time, officials allege, Arce siphoned off some of that money for personal expenses.

“Arce was identified as the main person responsible for this vast economic damage,” said Oviedo.

Bolivia's attorney general, Roger Mariaca, told local media that Arce had invoked his right to remain silent during police questioning.

He said Arce would remain in police custody overnight before being brought before a judge to determine whether he will remain detained pending trial. The charges against Arce carry a maximum sentence of 4-6 years in prison.

Arce's key ally and former government minister, Maria Nela Prada, insisted on the ex-president's innocence and denounced the corruption scandal as a case of political persecution.

Although the prosecution said it issued an arrest warrant, she said Arce was not notified of the case before he was bundled into a minivan with tinted windows in an upscale La Paz neighborhood on Wednesday and brought in for interrogation.

Arce had been walking along the cafe-lined streets of Sopocachi after teaching an economics class at a major public university, Prada said, and managed to tell her of his arrest before losing communication. A police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that account of events.

“This is a total abuse of power,” Prada said, banging furiously on the doors of the police headquarters where Arce was being held.

Mariaca, the prosecutor, promised the case was about nothing more than tackling graft in Bolivia.

“This is not persecution, nor is it a political act,” he said.

Paz swept to victory in October elections on a wave of public outrage over the unmitigated shambles that Arce's administration bequeathed its successors, including sky-high inflation, a shortage of fuel and empty state coffers.

Critical to his popularity was his running mate, the straight-talking, TikTok-savvy former police Capt. Edman Lara, who achieved celebrity status when he denounced high-ranking police officers for corruption.

Experts long have noted that Bolivia's brittle institutional framework fosters corruption, and that its politicized judiciary often lets those in power off the hook — whether on the left or right of the political spectrum.

Morales, who guided the country through an era of economic growth and shrinking inequality before his fraught 2019 ouster, was accused of stacking the constitutional court and bending the laws to stay in power.

When he resigned in the wake of mass protests over his disputed reelection to a fourth term, the right-wing interim government that took over issued arrest warrants for Morales and his officials on charges ranging from terrorism to corruption.

Then Arce won the 2020 elections and went on to target his own political rivals.

Former interim president Jeanine Añez was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges tied to her 2019 takeover and other right-wing opposition leaders landed in jail. Judges even went after Morales, Arce's mentor-turned-rival, who remains hunkered down in Bolivia’s remote tropics evading an arrest warrant related to statutory rape.

With the pendulum now swinging back to the right, Añez and many of her allies have walked free from prison. President Paz has set to work undoing the leftist policies of Arce and Morales.

Celebrating Arce's arrest on social media, Vice President Lara warned that the ex-president was just the first felled by what would become a wave of anti-corruption cases against former officials.

“Those who have stolen from this country will return every last cent,” Lara said, ending his message by wishing “death to the corrupt.”

DeBre reported from Santiago, Chile.

A protester holds a sign that reads in Spanish, "Clown Arce to jail," referring to former President Luis Arce, who was arrested for corruption, outside a police station in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Former minister of the presidency Maria Nela Prada knocks on the door at the police station, after former President Luis Arce was arrested for corruption in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

FILE - Bolivia's President Luis Arce listens to questions during a press conference at the presidential palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)