BANGKOK, Aug 4: Thailand’s military chief on Monday asked Cambodia to withdraw its soldiers from around a second Khmer ruin along their joint border, raising fears of a fresh territorial dispute.

General Boonsrang Niumpradit, head of Thailand’s armed forces, said that he had asked his Border Affairs Department to pass on the message to Cambodian Defence Minster Tea Banh.

“We ask Cambodia to move their soldiers, who are near the Ta Muen Thom temple,” he said. “I have not received the response yet.” The ruins of Ta Muen Thom, known as Ta Moan Thom in Cambodia, lie 130 kms west of the more well-known Preah Vihear temple, where more than 1,000 Thai and Cambodian troops have been stationed since a border dispute erupted last month.

Speaking to newsmen in Phnom Penh, Tea Banh said Cambodian soldiers and civilians were usually allowed to enter the Ta Muen Thom ruin for religious ceremonies, but over the weekend Thai soldiers blocked their path.

“They did not allow our troops to go. That’s why the problem happened,” he said. “Now we want the troops to stay wherever they are for a while.” Tea Banh, confirming the Cambodian troops were, as usual, still stationed nearby, said the two sides were “working on this issue.” Ta Muen Thom sits on one of many disputed areas along the border. Thai troops have been stationed there since 1998, officials from both countries say, but both sides lay claim to the land on which the Khmer ruin sits.

—AFP