Thai military rebuts Trump: landmine blast “not an accident”, no guarantee of ceasefire

At 10am on December 13, 2025, the Thai Defence Ministry rebutted US President Donald Trump’s description of a Thai soldier’s landmine injury as an “accident”, insisting the blast was a deliberate act by Cambodian forces and declining to guarantee that fighting will stop this evening.

Speaking at the Joint Press Centre on the Thai–Cambodian Situation at Army TV, Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Surasan Kongsiri said:

“I would like to ask in return whether it was really an accident. In military operations we have a duty to defend our sovereignty. Our troops were conducting patrols and area checks. Stepping on a mine was the result of Cambodian intent, because landmines are weapons, not toys that can ‘accidentally’ cause such incidents.”

He said Thailand had previously cleared landmines from its patrol zones, but new mines had been laid:

“This shows a deliberate intention to harm our personnel and provoke incidents,” he said, describing it as Cambodian provocation.

Surasan added that Cambodian artillery and rocket fire had recently struck civilian areas in Si Sa Ket, severing residents’ arms and legs:

“That is clearly not an accident either. It is a deliberate, indiscriminate attack on civilian targets,” he said.

He stressed that Thailand is trying to minimise casualties by evacuating civilians to shelters at a safe distance from Cambodian fire and by securing key locations. Evidence of attacks on civilians will be documented and presented to the international community as part of Thailand’s protest, he added.

On talk of a possible ceasefire:

“We cannot confirm that the guns will fall silent this evening,” Surasan said. “What Cambodia says and what Cambodia does are not the same. They talk about wanting peace talks and implementing the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, but their actions on the ground are clearly different.”

He reiterated that Thailand is not the aggressor, but is acting to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“They say there will be talks this afternoon, but I don’t think anyone will believe 100% until there is clarity and genuine sincerity from Cambodia,” he said.

Army deputy spokesman Colonel Richa Suksuwan reinforced the argument that Cambodian strikes on villages are intentional, not stray fire:

“We are soldiers; we’re trained in the use of weapons. When rockets and artillery land in civilian areas, we have to ask why,” he said. “Even though multiple rocket launchers like BM-21 are less accurate than Thai artillery or air power, Cambodian troops know their weapons’ spread. If BM-21 is fired, they know roughly how wide an area it will cover. It is not credible to claim they aimed at a military base and ‘accidentally’ hit homes. If houses are hit, it means they knew what they were targeting.”

Air Force spokesman Air Marshal Chakkrit Thammavichai, said Thai forces have already destroyed several logistics routes across the border:

“These targets were pre-selected. The benefit is to reduce the impact on civilians in interior areas, even though clashes are still occurring along the border,” he noted.

He also addressed Trump’s use of the word “retaliated”:

“President Trump used the word ‘retaliated’, meaning we responded to the other side’s operations. At this moment, everything we are doing is based on self-defence. We are using only the force necessary and proportionate to the threats we face, and you can see from our choice of targets and weapons that we are trying to minimise the impact on civilians not involved in the fighting,” he said.