Where have all Cambodia’s soldiers gone?

Second Army Area commander Lt Gen Boonsin Padklang revealed that Cambodian military losses could be around 3,000 troops, given the large number of forces deployed in recent operations.

Hun Sen, President of the Cambodian Senate, did not respond directly to Boonsin’s remarks but instead engaged in a war of words with former opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who attended a gathering with Cambodian expatriates in Chambéry, France, on August 10, 2025.

At the event, Sam Rainsy criticised the Cambodian military, saying its troops fired BM-21 rockets inaccurately, using ineffective Chinese-made weapons that struck Thai civilian homes, while the Thai military’s F-16 jets hit their targets with precision.

Earlier, Sam Rainsy had posted on his Facebook page calling on the government to “reveal the truth about the number of Cambodian frontline soldiers and civilians killed and injured.”

Hun Sen responded on Facebook, writing: “Why is there a Cambodian person praising the invading Thai army and insulting the Cambodian army instead? Is he a human or an animal? Is he patriotic or a traitor?”

The casualty figures among Cambodian frontline troops remain a pressing question confronting the Cambodian government.

First, it is important to understand the structure of the Cambodian military, which is divided into three components: the central army under the command of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) headquarters, special zone units, and “home guards” under the authority of local support divisions.

In the current Thai-Cambodian border conflict, Hun Sen has deployed support divisions drawn from Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, and Prey Veng provinces, along with local troops and home guards from Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey provinces, as the main fighting force.

Meanwhile, the 70th Infantry Brigade, Special Forces Unit 911, and the Bodyguard Headquarters (BHQ) have served only as supporting units, engaging in certain battlefields.

As a result, the bodies of Cambodian soldiers found across the battlefields of Phu Makua, Phu Phee, Ta Muen Thom, and Ta Kwai have mostly been those of home guards and local troops.

Class divisions within the Cambodian military

Historically, the composition of the Cambodian armed forces traces back to the era following the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, which brought together the so-called “Four Factions of Cambodia”:

The Cambodian People’s Revolutionary Party, led by Heng Samrin

The Khmer Rouge

The FUNCINPEC Party, led by King Norodom Sihanouk

The Khmer People’s National Liberation Front (KPNLF), led by Son Sann

After the 1993 general election supervised by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) was established. Under the current Cambodian Constitution (Article 23), the King is the supreme commander of the armed forces, though this role is purely symbolic.

The Cambodian military traces its origins to the revolutionary army created by the Khmer Rouge to wage its liberation struggle.

When the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea succeeded in toppling the Khmer Rouge regime, the Vietnamese army laid the foundations for Cambodia’s new military under the leadership of Heng Samrin, Chea Sim, and Hun Sen.

In his early years as prime minister, Hun Sen controlled only about 30% of the armed forces, as many regional troops still answered directly to their original commanders.

To consolidate his power, Hun Sen created his own “private army”, the 70th Infantry Brigade, Special Forces Unit 911, and the Bodyguard Headquarters (BHQ).

Both Hun Sen and his son, Hun Manet, have since given special attention to these three elite units, ensuring they receive well-trained personnel, foreign specialist instruction, and the latest weaponry.

This has created a stark class divide within the Cambodian military, between the “home guards,” in flip-flops and carrying AK rifles, and the fully kitted-out special forces troops.

For the five consecutive days of fierce fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border, large numbers of soldiers and civilians were killed.

The Cambodian authorities have not released any official figures for military casualties, prompting former opposition leader Sam Rainsy to call on Hun Sen to reveal the truth rather than conceal the number of soldiers killed.

According to the Facebook page Pu Dara, run by a Cambodian influencer acting as a liaison for the families of fallen and injured soldiers, more than 45 troops have been confirmed dead, most of them low-ranking soldiers from poor backgrounds whose families have had to arrange their own funerals without government support. 

Cambodian social media has been filled with appeals from families seeking news of relatives deployed to the border, unsure whether they are alive or dead.

Cambodians in the United States have established the Khmer Democracy Rescue Fund (KDRF) to serve as a bridge between families in the rear and troops on the front line.

Over the past weekend, memorial events for fallen Cambodian fighters were held in both the US and Japan, where mourners carried photographs of around 45 soldiers whose bodies have yet to be recovered from battlefields, alongside thousands more still unaccounted for.

By contrast, funeral coverage on mainstream Cambodian media outlets such as BTV Cambodia and TVK has shown only senior officers, whose bodies were returned with full military honours and whose families were given 20 million riels (475 US dollars) in compensation.

These officers are believed to have served in support divisions or in the elite Special Forces Unit 911, and to have come from provinces such as Prey Veng, Tbong Khmum, Kandal, Takeo, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Svay Rieng, and Siem Reap.

Pich Chanmony, wife of Prime Minister Hun Manet, in her capacity as vice president of the Cambodian Red Cross, vice president of the Samdech Techo Voluntary Youth Doctor Association (TYDA), and president of the Cambodian Women for Peace and Development Association, has visited the coffins of fallen officers almost daily. She has often been accompanied by Bun Rany (Hun Sen's wife), Hun Mani (Hun Sen's son) and several cabinet ministers, an apparent attempt by the Cambodian power elite to address growing public discontent and show support for bereaved families.

It is little surprise, then, that US-based Cambodian NGO leader Phan Phana wrote on Facebook: “The Cambodian soldiers who die on the front line are all from poor rural families.”

Meanwhile, Hun Sen has allowed the bodies of “home guards” and local troops to be left in remote forests and mountains, with the burden of retrieval and funeral rites falling on the government, a responsibility it appears reluctant to take on.