Thai soldier loses leg in landmine blast on Cambodia border

Preliminary investigations suggests that the landmine was not newly laid, the Thai military said. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BANGKOK – A Thai soldier lost his leg on Feb 27 in a landmine blast on the country’s contested frontier with Cambodia, where a shaky truce is holding after months of cross-border clashes, Thailand’s military said.

Since the summer of 2025, dozens have been killed in waves of conflict along the nations’ jungle-bound border, disputed for more than a century since its demarcation in the French colonial era.

More than a million civilians were displaced along the 800km frontier at the height of the fighting in July and December, before a tentative ceasefire took effect.

“One soldier has been critically wounded and lost his right leg after stepping on a landmine,” the Thai army said in a statement, adding the incident took place around dawn in the border province of Surin.

Thailand and Cambodia have repeatedly accused each other of violating successive truces with cross-border gun and mortar fire, while Bangkok has alleged Phnomh Penh’s soldiers have laid fresh landmines on contested soil.

However, the Thai military said a “preliminary examination” of the blast on Feb 27 “indicates that the landmine was buried deep in clay and covered with leaves, suggesting it was not newly laid”.