An estimated 38,000 civilians in Cambodia and almost 140,000 in Thailand reported to have fled fighting on their shared border.

Cambodia-Thailand border clashes turn deadly

Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia – Explosions reverberated in the distance along the Thai-Cambodia border, as a Cambodian soldier waited his turn for surgery to remove shrapnel embedded in his body from a Thai artillery shell.

The soldier said he was injured in fighting with Thai troops on Friday near the ancient Ta Moan Thom temple along the contested border separating the Cambodian province of Oddar Meanchey and the Thai province of Surin.

“I have shrapnel in my back and it hasn’t been removed yet. I need surgery,” the soldier told Al Jazeera, lying in bed in a hospital corridor, his wife and son seated on the floor beside him.