Thai PM: soldiers fire back at Cambodians to protect sovereignty - Xinhua

 Villagers are evacuated from the border near the Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, some 500 km northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Feb. 5, 2011. Thailand and Cambodia on Saturday reached a ceasefire agreement to halt fighting near a disputed temple, but border tensions remained high. (Xinhua/Sovannara)  
BANGKOK, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday said Thai soldiers exchanged firing with Cambodians as they needed to protect the country's sovereignty.

"When there was an attack on Thai territory, we needed to protect our sovereignty and returned the firing," Abhisit said in his weekly national televised address.

"Our counter-attack has entirely aimed at military targets," he said. "We fired back to where it was fired from."

The premier said Thailand had no intention to invade any other country first.

Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged heavy-gun firing for a few hours on Friday afternoon and for another half an hour on Saturday morning as both countries claim a disputed area near the World Heritage's Preah Vihear temple

The clashes inflicted some casualties on both sides.

Senior army officers of the two countries met on Saturday and agreed on a truce. The border area remained peaceful on Sunday and some Thai villages have left a shelter provided by local authorities during the clashes to return to their homes.

Abhisit reaffirmed that his government could not accept the three demands set by the "yellow-shirt" People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose supporters have been rallying near the Government House in Bangkok calling for the scrapping of an existing memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between Thailand and Cambodia in 2000 as the framework for settling the two countries' disputed border areas.

The PAD also wants the government to move out Cambodians who are occupying the disputed areas, and Thailand to pull out as a party to the World Heritage Convention.

The premier said without the MOU, there would be no mechanism for the two nations to settle their border disputes, while pulling out of the World Heritage Convention will allow Cambodia to move ahead with its plan to administer the disputed areas around the Preah Vihear temple.

Abhisit told reporters after his broadcast that he preferred to pursue a settlement with Cambodia bilaterally and refused to accept any intervention by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional body to which both countries are members, or any other multilateral bodies. 

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