Notebook Reveals New Cambodian Landmines on Thai Border; Bangkok Seeks Ottawa Probe
Border patrols along the Thai-Cambodian frontier have stumbled on fresh proof that new anti-personnel mines are still being planted, intensifying a conflict that has already cost Thai soldiers their limbs and lives.
Snapshot for busy readers
• Pocket notebook allegedly belonging to a Cambodian platoon spells out recent mine-laying plans.
• Discovery came after Thai troops recaptured Hill 677 in Ubon Ratchathani.
• At least 15 Thai soldiers have lost legs to blasts since July, according to Army Area 2.
• Bangkok preparing to invoke an international fact-finding mechanism under the Ottawa Treaty.
• Phnom Penh denies the charge, insisting all mines are “legacy ordnance.”
Battlefield find that revived old fears
When the 2nd Army pushed Cambodian forces off Hill 677 last week, the spoils looked ordinary at first: mobile phones, radios, grenades. Hidden among them, however, was a hand-written notebook mapping 13 mine fields dated 12 August 2025, plus a second set of instructions for another round scheduled on 21 August. Thai officers say the sketches match blast sites where engineers recently unearthed PMN-2 and Type 7 devices—both banned under the Ottawa Convention.
Are mines really “new” – and why that matters
Thai sappers have long worked around leftover explosives from past wars, yet the notebook suggests freshly emplaced charges rather than relics. The distinction is critical: under the Ottawa pact, Cambodia pledged to destroy stockpiles by 2025. Finding new mines could trigger the treaty’s rarely used Article 8 investigation clause, allowing foreign experts to probe on the ground—something Bangkok’s Foreign Ministry says it will formally request before year-end.
The human toll on the border line
Between July and mid-December, frontline medical units have logged 15 amputations and more than 22 wounded from mine incidents around Na Chaluai and Nam Yuen districts. The cost is not just military; rice farmers and foragers increasingly avoid formerly safe footpaths, shrinking household incomes in Ubon and Sisaket. Provincial hospitals report that prosthetic demand for blast survivors has nearly doubled compared with 2024.
How Thai engineers are fighting back
To keep troops and villagers safer, the army has rolled out a multi-layered clearance strategy:
Armored tractors and mine-protected bulldozers flatten suspected lanes before infantry advances.
EOD robots, developed with Chiang Mai University, probe for pressure plates while operators watch from bunkers.
A mobile TMAC command post now feeds satellite data directly to patrol tablets, letting squads avoid flagged danger zones in real time.
The kit has helped locate more than 120 live devices since September, but officers concede terrain on Hill 677—dense bamboo and steep shale—limits heavy machinery, forcing many tasks back to hand-held detectors.
Phnom Penh’s flat denial
Cambodia’s Defence Ministry fired off a statement within hours of the Thai press briefing, branding the notebook a “fabrication” and insisting its forces have “zero operational stockpiles” of anti-personnel mines. It argues that any PMN-2s found are Cold-War debris dislodged by monsoon floods and artillery duels. Phnom Penh also accuses Bangkok of conducting “psychological warfare” to justify troop buildups near Chong An Ma.
Diplomatic temperature rising
Despite a private phone call brokered by US President Donald Trump, Thai premier Anutin Charnvirakul publicly rejected suggestions that the deadly blasts might be accidental. The Foreign Ministry is assembling a dossier of GPS-tagged photos, blast patterns and witness testimony to present at the Ottawa States-Parties meeting in Geneva next March. ASEAN observers, already stationed in Ubon, are expected to contribute technical notes.
Why residents of Isan should pay attention
For communities from Det Udom to Khong Chiam, the skirmish is more than headline drama. Trade routes on Highway 24 now close after dusk, inflating logistics costs for cassava and rubber exporters. Tourism operators around Pha Taem National Park report cancellations, and local officials have delayed opening new trekking trails until mine-clearance teams issue an all-clear.
What happens next
Bangkok’s immediate goal is to finish mapping the danger zones by the end of the dry season, before farmers move back into forest fringe plots. If the Article 8 request goes through, a multinational inspection could start by mid-2026—marking the first use of the procedure in the treaty’s history. Until then, Thai troops will likely remain dug in on Hill 677, notebooks and all, bracing for the next flare-up on one of Southeast Asia’s most heavily mined borders.
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