RTA deploys engineering corps, armoured tractors to clear landmines near Chong Bok

The Royal Thai Army (RTA) on Sunday deployed an engineering company, supported by armoured tractors, to clear anti-personnel landmines allegedly planted by Cambodian troops near the Chong Bok pass in Ubon Ratchathani.

The Second Army Area dispatched troops from Company 6021 to carry out the demining operation along the Thai-Cambodian border in Nam Yuen district.

The operation followed a recent incident in which three Thai soldiers were seriously injured after one of them stepped on a plastic anti-personnel mine, believed to have been planted following a border skirmish near Chong Bok at the end of March.

Cambodia has denied responsibility for planting mines in areas previously cleared by Thai troops. However, on July 19, a Cambodian Facebook page posted — then swiftly deleted — a video clip showing a Cambodian soldier placing a landmine in the disputed zone, apparently in an attempt to boast of the military operation.

The tractors are fitted with protective metal plating around the driver cabins to shield them while ploughing through suspected minefields.
The engineering team also includes personnel specialising in mine detection.

The Second Army Area said the recovered mines would be used as evidence that Cambodia had violated the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines. The Foreign Ministry is expected to lodge a formal protest with the United Nations, and the RTA plans to take retaliatory measures against the Cambodian military.