Spokesman Maj Gen Winthai Suvaree said yesterday (Nov 18) that the bodies of Cambodian soldiers killed in border clashes in July were left untended where they fell and the unpleasant smell had spread into Thai and Cambodian communities along the border, reports the Bangkok Post.
The Thai army had asked Cambodian authorities to collect the bodies, but to no avail, he said.
“The senior leader of the country ignores the bodies, fails to respect the honour and dignity of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for their country, and is interested only in generating falsehoods for public dissemination that fly in the face of the evidence,” Maj Gen Winthai said.
Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen reportedly told people yesterday that the bodies left to rot in border areas were Thai soldiers.
Maj Gen Winthai said the Thai army honoured the heroic acts of the Thai soldiers who lost their lives and their bodies were returned to their home provinces and were honoured at funeral ceremonies.
The army spokesman also said Cambodia treated its soldiers inhumanely, citing the redeployment to the border of a soldier who suffered from a mental illness brought on by the pressures of warfare. Thailand had earlier captured and then freed the soldier, returning him to Cambodia for mental health treatment.
Maj Gen Winthai denied and rejected as fake news a Cambodian claim that a Thai paramilitary ranger had beaten and raped a Cambodian woman. Such fake news was aimed at tarnishing Thailand’s image, he said.
Asked about the 18 Cambodian soldiers still being detained in Thailand, the spokesman said Cambodia knew well that prisoners of war would be freed when hostilities ended, but Cambodia continued to lay landmines on Thai soil and generate false information.