The Cambodia Mine Action Centre has called on Thailand to accept responsibility for what it describes as the destruction of the Preah Vihear temple during a twenty-one-day conflict between the two countries late last year.
In a statement posted on social media, the director general of the Cambodia Mine Action Centre, Heng Ratana, said the Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a sacred place for Cambodians, was heavily bombarded and shelled during what he described as a recent Thai military incursion into Cambodian territory.
He said the damage went beyond civilian infrastructure and extended to ancient monuments officially recognised by UNESCO as world heritage, including Preah Vihear, which he said had suffered serious destruction.
Heng Ratana said CMAC teams clearing unexploded ordnance around the temple had identified a wide range of munitions, including artillery shells of various calibres, forty-two millimetre rounds, cluster munitions, and M85 submunitions.
He warned that large quantities of unexploded weapons remain scattered across the Preah Vihear area and urged residents there and in other border regions affected by the fighting to exercise extreme caution, particularly because of the danger posed by cluster munitions.
The statement follows clearance operations carried out by CMAC after fighting linked to the Cambodia-Thailand border dispute in late 2025.
On December 10, 2025, the Thai newspaper Khaosod reported that Thailand’s Second Army Region had launched an attack on the Preah Vihear area, saying it was aimed at destroying a crane near the temple entrance that was allegedly being used to install signal jamming or anti-drone equipment.
On the same day, UNESCO reminded all parties of their obligations under international law, including the 1954 Hague Convention on the protection of cultural property and the 1972 World Heritage Convention during armed conflict.
According to daily reports from Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence, Thai forces carried out more than forty attacks on the Preah Vihear area between December 7 and December 27, 2025. Other Cambodian border areas were also hit during the same period.
The ministry said the weapons used included mortars, one hundred fifty-five millimetre artillery, toxic smoke, tanks, bomb carrying drones, cluster munitions, rocket launch vehicles, heavy guns, loitering drones, missile systems, and infantry forces.
The second round of fighting between Cambodia and Thailand lasted twenty-one days, from December 7 to December 27, 2025. A ceasefire announced on December 27 has since brought a temporary pause in hostilities, though tensions remain.
