A third Thai soldier died in hospital following Friday’s clashes, which rattled relations between the neighbours just days before a regional summit that was supposed to focus on the global economic slowdown.

Military officials from both sides met over lunch in disputed territory near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on Sunday, while Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was set to meet Thai officials later in the capital Phnom Penh.

“We held the meeting in order to make the situation return to normal and to make sure there’s no more gunfire. We have agreed to stay on our sides of the border,” Cambodian Major General Srey Doek said after the talks.

His Thai counterpart, Major General Kanok Netrak Thavesanak, said that in future both sides would “communicate to solve problems. Sometimes there are misunderstandings.”

Troops could be seen chatting and some even stowed away their weapons but they said they remained ready to fight after their clash, the biggest burst of violence over the territory since four people died there in October.

However journalists were barred from entering the so-called Eagle Area, which has seen the most violence, because the Cambodian military said it remained too tense.

Decades of tensions over ownership of the site started to boil over after Cambodia successfully applied for United Nations world heritage status for the ruins in July.

Kanok, the Thai officer, said an official from his country would meet later with Hun Sen.

“A Thai official is going to meet with the Cambodian prime minister today and they will talk about the clashes that happened two days earlier,” Cambodian cabinet spokesman Phay Siphan told AFP.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva meanwhile said that the issue would come up when he meets his Cambodian counterpart at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its regional partners in Thailand next week.

“This will be raised in next week’s meeting to find a solution to the problem,” Abhisit said in his weekly television broadcast, adding that the two countries would “resume the talking process as soon as possible.”

Pre-arranged talks on the border situation, the latest in a series that have been held over the past six months, are also set to go ahead as planned on Monday and Tuesday in Phnom Penh.

The Thai and Cambodian leaders both sought to play down the latest crisis on Saturday, saying that it was the result of a misunderstanding and that the two countries were not at war.

“It’s like next-door neighbours — when their chickens fight, the owners get into a dispute too,” Hun Sen said.

But while tensions had noticeably eased at the border on Sunday, Cambodian soldiers said they would fight to the death to protect the ancient temple perched on a forested cliff overlooking green swathes of countryside.

“We are not afraid of Thai soldiers. Everything happened because Thai soldiers want to take our temple and land,” said Cambodian soldier Chum Chuon.

Friday’s violence damaged a government office and destroyed a local market.

Hundreds of Cambodians who lost their homes in the fighting were evacuated to a school 20 kilometres (12 miles) away and were being provided new plots of land further from disputed territory.

In 1962 an international court awarded the ruins to Cambodia, but the most accessible entrance is in Thailand and the two countries still dispute ownership of the surrounding land.

The border in the area is poorly defined, partly because it is heavily mined after decades of conflict in Cambodia.

AFP: Cambodia, Thailand in talks after border clashes

Mr Abhisit was due to make his first policy speech on Monday, but had to abandon the attempt.

Demonstrators loyal to the ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra blockaded the building.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the police had been ordered not to use violence to clear the protesters and allow Mr Abhisit access.

“We don’t want to start our government’s work with violence,” he said.

But one of the leaders of the protest said that Mr Abhisit was free to enter the building.

“We still insist that the PM and parliament members should walk through us to get in. We guarantee their safety. By walking in, we can have a talk with him,” Chakrapob Penkhair told the Associated Press news agency.

Constitutional requirement

Protesters say Mr Abhisit – the third prime minister in four months – has no mandate to lead and should resign.

He was elected in a parliamentary vote two weeks ago, after a court dissolved the former government, seen as close to Mr Thaksin.

He now faces crowds of red-clad opponents on the streets who say they object to his route to power.

Some reports suggest that if the protests continue the speech – which was expected to outline measures to try to boost Thailand’s ailing economy – could even be put off until the new year.

Under the constitution, a new Thai government cannot start work officially until it delivers its policy statement to a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and Senate.

Mr Thaksin was ousted from the prime minister’s job in a military coup in 2006, but elections in December 2007 under a new constitution returned his loyalists to power.

Several governments led by his supporters collapsed under the weight of court rulings against them.

Now his supporters are on the streets in moves to blockade parliament reminiscent of the protests mounted against them when they were in power.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Thai protesters maintain vigil

A Thai Airways domestic flight from Phuket with about 300 passengers was the first to land, touching down shortly after 2 pm, followed shortly by the first international flight, a Royal Jordanian airliner from Amman.

As protesters quit the Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports, some cargo flights resumed yesterday. More international flights – bound for Italy, Australia and Japan – were scheduled for midnight.

The momentum is expected to pick up slowly over the next few days. Carriers like Air Asia expect to be back tomorrow.

Airport officials yesterday could not confirm when full operations would resume. Said Airports of Thailand acting president Serirat Prasutanond: ‘We’re trying hard to ensure that the airport can be reopened by Dec 15.’ Time was needed, he explained, for computer system checks and security sweeps.

Protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) had shut down traffic at the airports in their six-month campaign to bring down the Somchai government, which they accuse of being a corrupt proxy of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Their occupation stranded over 300,000 travellers and dealt a serious blow to the economy, hitting tourism, freight forwarders and the electronics and agriculture sectors.

Yesterday, still cheering Tuesday’s sacking of the government by the Constitutional Court for electoral fraud, thousands of yellow-shirted PAD supporters packed up their belongings and left the Suvarnabhumi terminal.

As they departed, some lined up for autographs from PAD leaders Chamlong Srimuang and Sondhi Limthongkul.

Within the airport complex, some of the flight schedule display screens had failed. Staff of retail stores scrubbed windows and dumped rotten food.

While the terminal looked relatively clean, Lufthansa managing director Christian Altmann noted that more than cleanliness was at issue. For the airlines, critical areas included their own IT systems, the control tower, and baggage handling.

‘For us, the important thing is an official note from the airport authorities that they are ready to operate fully. The last such note said they would be ready at 5pm local time this Friday,’ he said.

Lufthansa, like several other airlines, had rerouted flights to Phuket. Once an official note was received, they would have to decide on a switchover to start flying into Bangkok again, Mr Altmann said.

The full extent of the cost has yet to be added up, but Thai Airways International has said it would sue the PAD for revenue loss of about 20 billion baht (S$860 million) during the forced closure.

Thailand’s political troubles are far from over. Members of the royalist PAD say respect for the King was one reason for their quitting the airport. The spectre of renewed tension after the King’s birthday on Dec 5 remains very real, especially next week when Parliament convenes and a new premier is chosen.

As they left, some PAD members warned that if another Thaksin ‘nominee’ is chosen as premier, the barricades would be up again.

Airport blockade ends

The incidents raised tensions in an increasingly bloody political stand-off that began a week ago, stranding about 350,000 frustrated travellers and causing massive damage to Thailand’s economy.

The attack at Don Mueang airport was the latest in a series targeting the royalist People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has occupied the domestic terminal and Bangkok’s larger international airport.

“A 29-year-old man was killed and 22 others wounded in a bomb attack early Tuesday (at Don Mueang),” an emergency services spokeswoman told AFP. She said the man died from shrapnel wounds to the stomach.

It came just hours after the royalist PAD ended a three-month sit-in at the prime minister’s offices in Bangkok following a series of similar grenade attacks, and redeployed its forces to both airports.

In a sign of the divisions in Thai society, hundreds of rival pro-government supporters later sealed off central Bangkok’s Constitutional Court, where judges were set to hear closing arguments in a vote fraud case.

The judges moved to another court on the outskirts of town to consider whether to disband three parties in the ruling coalition because some of their executives were convicted of vote fraud after elections in December 2007.

No date for the verdict has been set, but if it goes against the ruling People Power Party (PPP) it would also see Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat banned from politics for five years.

Expecting the decision to go against the party, government supporters in bright red shirts massed around the court building and set up makeshift stages on trucks, witnesses said.

“The final hearing will now begin at the Administrative Court building,” a court spokesman told AFP.

Protesters wore headbands and scarves reading “Against Dictatorship” and “Love Thaksin,” a reference to premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. They later moved to the Administrative Court.

Hundreds of police armed with batons stood guard at the Constitutional Court and soldiers were also deployed around the building, amid fears of clashes between the PAD and pro-government groups as tensions escalate.

The PAD launched its campaign in late May, accusing the government elected in December of acting as a proxy for Thaksin — Somchai’s brother-in-law — and of being hostile to the monarchy.

The PAD, who dress in yellow which they say symbolises their devotion to Thailand’s much-revered king, are backed by the Bangkok business elite and middle classes, along with elements in the military and the palace.

Thaksin, whose supporters dress in red, is hugely popular with Thailand’s rural and urban poor, especially in the north, his native area.

Somchai has been marooned in the northern pro-government stronghold of Chiang Mai since Wednesday, but is due to attend a military ceremony later Tuesday ahead of the king’s December 5 birthday.

Thais may also be waiting for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest reigning monarch, to point to a way out of the crisis in a birthday-eve speech on Thursday.

The blockade continued to take a toll on tourists who are flooding to a naval base southeast of Bangkok and to the southern tourist town of Phuket to try to escape the so-called “Land of Smiles”.

Two Canadians were killed and a Briton seriously injured in a car crash on Monday as they headed to Phuket from Bangkok to catch a Cathay Pacific flight, police said.

A Hong Kong national was killed in a similar traffic accident on Sunday as he also tried to get to Phuket.

Election Updates

The blast occurred around midnight at Government House, where thousands of supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who have occupied the prime minister’s compound since August in a bid to unseat him, were attending a rally.

A spokeswoman for the Erawan Medical Centre said at least 46 people had been wounded.

Channel 3 television showed footage of the wounded being rushed to hospital in pickup trucks. It said at least two people were in critical condition.

“I had come down from the stage about 30 minutes before the grenade dropped into a crowded area,” PAD leader Suriyasai Katasila told Channel 3.

He blamed pro-government supporters for the attack, which came as the PAD’s dramatic blockade of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport entered its fifth day.

The sit-ins at Suvarnabhumi, and the city’s old airport Don Muang now used for domestic flights, are part of the PAD’s “final battle” launched on Monday to unseat Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

They accuse the prime minister of being a puppet of his brother-in-law, former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives in exile.

Somchai, who has refused to quit, imposed emergency rule at the airports two days ago but police have made no moves to evict the thousands of protesters.

Somchai effectively sacked his police chief on Friday, blaming him for mishandling the protests, Thai media said.

The unrest has paralysed flights at both airports, stranded thousands of passengers and sparked rumours of a military coup, even though the army chief has said he will not seize control.

“SHOOT THEM BACK”

In Saturday night’s clash at Suvarnabhumi, 150 riot police fled their checkpoint after they were attacked by PAD militants armed with iron rods, slingshots and hurling firecrackers.

The onslaught lasted 15 seconds but left the five-lane highway, the main access route to the $4 billion (2.6 billion pound) airport, littered with broken glass and discarded police helmets and truncheons.

Earlier, about 2,000 PAD members forced riot police to abandon another checkpoint near the airport. There was no violence, but one police officer was detained by PAD “security guards,” the Nation newspaper reported on its website.

PAD supporters have vowed to “fight to the death,” and youths armed with iron stakes manned barricades, scanning the horizon with binoculars for signs of police or pro-government gangs.

“If they come, we’ll not open the door. If they shoot us, we’ll shoot them back. We’ll die if that makes the country better,” PAD leader Sondhi Limthongul told supporters, the most explicit admission yet by the movement that they are armed.

The airport closures have crippled the tourism industry during the peak end-of-year season.

Deputy Prime Minister Olarn Chaipravat said the damage to Thailand’s tourist image may cut arrivals by half in 2009 from an expected 13.5 million this year, and threaten one million jobs.

The government will spend $30 million over the next month to help stranded tourists, he told reporters, including giving them free hotel rooms and a daily stipend of $56.

“It has been very frustrating,” said Ian Fraser, an Australian who was due to return home on Wednesday after a month of lectures in Thailand.

The government is shuttling tourists to U-Tapao, a Vietnam War-era naval airbase 150 km (90 miles) east of Bangkok, as an alternative landing site for airlines, but travellers have complained of massive delays and confusion.

The crisis has increased pressure on the army to oust the prime minister, as they did Thaksin in 2006, after Somchai rejected military calls to quit this week.

But army chief Anupong Paochinda has said he would not take over, arguing the military cannot heal fundamental political rifts between the Bangkok elite and middle classes, who despise Thaksin, and the poor rural and urban majority who love him.

Reuters

Some 150 officers stationed half a mile down the expressway leading to Suvarnabhumi airport’s terminal piled into their vehicles and left as a convoy of demonstrators drove towards them.

As the police vehicles passed, the protesters hurled firecrackers at them and took swings at their windscreens with iron bars.

Yesterday 2,000 riot police were deployed around the airport, suggesting they were about to evict members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) who have occupied the terminal since Tuesday. The occupation has forced the cancellation of all flights.

An estimated 2,000 protesters have barricaded themselves into Suvarnabhumi airport and Bangkok’s second airport, Don Muang.

Thousands of stranded passengers are waiting in nearby hotels for the four-day-old standoff to end, but Thailand’s airport authority said Suvarnabhumi would remain closed until at least 6pm on Monday.

Travellers were today being taken on buses from the nearby resort town of Pattaya to the Vietnam war-era naval airbase of U-Tapao, south of Bangkok, where 60 flights departed yesterday.

The Thai prime minister last night sacked the country’s police chief, Pacharawat Wongsuwan, after security forces failed to evict the demonstrators. Somchai Wongsawat’s decision to remove the police general was another sign of the deepening tensions between the government and the security forces, which have raised fears of another coup.

The recently appointed police chief, an opponent of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was deposed in a coup in 2006, had joined Thailand’s armed services chiefs last month on television, suggesting Somchai should step down.

As darkness fell last night PAD “guards”, clad in hardhats and goggles and brandishing iron bars, continued to man a razor-wire barricade checkpoint on the five-lane airport approach road.

Just a few hundred metres away, 200 police with batons and shields gathered and scores of ambulances were lined up, suggesting the security forces were preparing an assault that might turn bloody.

Despite the tough stand, the prime minister tried in a national address yesterday to reassure the public that a softly-softly approach would be used to clear the airports. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Officials will use gentle measures to deal with them.”

Earlier in the day police began negotiations by phone with the protesters’ leaders, who are demanding that Somchai’s government step down unconditionally. Officers hinted of sterner measures if the demonstrators did not leave quietly.

“We are asking them to allow the airport to resume operations,” said Lieutenant General Suchart Muenkaew, the chief negotiator. “We will keep talking, but if it fails we will take other steps. The last step will be to disperse them.”

Somchai declared a state of emergency on Thursday evening at Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang, leading to expectations that police and some military units were on the brink of evicting the protesters by force.

But after rumours swept the Suvarnabhumi protesters’ ranks that a police invasion was imminent, the government backed off and said it would seek to get them out in a “peaceful manner”.

A similar emergency rule order declared by the previous prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, in September to clear the demonstrators occupying the grounds of Government House also fell flat when the military refused to intervene.

The inaction after the latest emergency rule declaration raised questions about whether Somchai was in total control, a suspicion amplified by his decision to remain in the northern city of Chiang Mai among his bedrock supporters because of tensions with the military.

The sacking of the police chief was clearly an attempt to wrest back the initiative. It prompted renewed speculation that the prime minister would also remove the army chief, Anupong Paochinda, who has also criticised him, a scenario categorically denied earlier.

The new tougher stance drew a stern response from PAD, whose members said they were prepared to “fight to the death” if they did not get their way. “We are ready to defend ourselves against any government’s operations to get us out of those places,” a spokesman said.

.co.uk

People’s Alliance of Democracy (PAD) “security guards,” armed with sticks and metal bars, manned makeshift fortified roadblocks on the expressway leading to the capital’s $4 billion Suvarnabhumi airport, shut since Tuesday.

There were similar scenes at the city’s Don Muang airport, whose closure late on Wednesday severed all air links between the city of 8 million and the outside world.

In a televised address late on Thursday from the government stronghold of Chiang Mai, 700 km (400 miles) north of Bangkok, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared emergency law, saying the export- and tourism-driven economy could not tolerate further disruption.

“I need to do something to restore peace and order,” he said.

A similar declaration in September to dislodge protesters occupying Government House was ignored by the army and, even though the PAD was preparing to repel a police assault, it was not clear when, or even if, one would materialize.

“We’re not scared of the police because we love our country and we love our king,” said Toy, a 53-year-old protester at the airport. “We are not afraid to die.”

The sit-ins have forced hundreds of flights to be canceled, stranding thousands of foreign tourists in one of Asia’s biggest air hubs and grounding millions of dollars of air cargo.

“We will not leave. We will use human shields against the police if they try to disperse us,” PAD leader Suriyasai Katasila told Reuters.

PAD guards had set up a series of roadblocks on the main expressway to the airport and were stopping all cars and checking passengers and trunk compartments.

The roadblocks were manned by youths in black jackets, faces partly covered by masks. Some wore body armor and wielded wooden stakes and golf clubs.

Police and PAD said loud bangs were heard overnight near the broadcasting unit of the alliance’s ASTV channel, on the bank of the Chao Praya River near the backpacker haunt of Khao San Road.

Police determined the sound came from M-79 grenades apparently launched from a passing boat, and subsequent gunfire was from a PAD guard firing in return.

A government spokesman said the economy could lose at least 100 billion baht ($2.8 billion) if the sieges drag on for a month, and GDP growth for the year could be cut to 4 percent from a current estimate of 4.5 percent, already a seven-year low.

The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce survey forecast revenue losses of between 76 billion baht and 120 billion baht ($2.2 billion – $3.4 billion) in the sector if the chaos continues for another month.

FINAL BATTLE

Thailand’s three-year-old political crisis has deepened dramatically since the PAD began a “final battle” on Monday to unseat a government it accuses of being a pawn of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup. Somchai is Thaksin’s brother-in-law.

Pressure has built on the army to step in since Somchai rejected military calls to quit, but pro-government forces are threatening to take up arms if the elected administration is ousted, raising fears of major civil unrest.

Army chief Anupong has repeatedly said he would not take over, arguing the military is powerless to heal the fundamental political rifts between the Bangkok elite and middle classes who despise Thaksin, and the poor rural and urban majority who love him.

But rumors of the army preparing to launch what would be Thailand’s 19th coup or attempted coup in 76 years of on-off democracy continue to swirl around the capital.

The government offered to shuttle thousands of stranded tourists by bus to U-Tapao, a Vietnam War-era naval airbase 150 km (90 miles) east of Bangkok, as an alternative landing site for airlines.

Aviation Department chief Chaisak Angkasuwan said 20 regional airbases in Thailand were available as an alternative.

Malaysia said it was laying on a military flight to evacuate some of it stranded nationals, Bernama news agency said.

(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editin

Reuters

Until Wednesday airlines were operating domestic flights out of Don Muang airport, Bangkok’s oldest airfield.

Officials are now considering using military airports in the area to accommodate flights diverted from Suvarnabhumi airport, which has been closed since Tuesday evening.

Passengers seeking to leave the country must now drive to other international airports in the country. Chiang Mai is an 8-hour drive north of Bangkok and Phuket 9 hours to the south. All air cargo operations in Bangkok have also been suspended.

On Wednesday, the head of the Thai Army bluntly advised the prime minister to step down and dissolve Parliament and told protesters who shut down Suvarnabhumi to end their demonstrations across the city.

The head of the Thai Army on Wednesday bluntly advised the prime minister to step down and dissolve Parliament and told protesters who shut down the main international airport to end their demonstrations across the city.

“The government should return the power to people in a new election,” General Anupong Paochinda said at a news conference after meeting with business leaders.

In a country with a history of military coups, including one just two years ago, Anupong added: “We are not pressuring the government. We are just giving advice about the way out for the country in this situation.”

But Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who returned late Wednesday from a trip overseas, rejected the general’s advice in a nationally televised speech. “I assure you, ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “that this government was elected by the people under the king. The government will carry out its duty to the fullest for the benefit of the country and the benefit of the people.”

Somchai decided to hold the Cabinet meeting in Chiang Mai on Thursday, Thai media reported. Protestors in Bangkok have threatened to thwart any high-level government meetings.

A court late backed the government’s position Wednesday, ordering the protesters to leave Suvarnabhumi airport immediately.

But the mood at Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday was defiant. Protesters consolidated their control, forcing all flights in and out of the facility to be canceled. They took control of the control tower at midday after spending the night in the terminal.

“I am often asked whether we will stop our protests if the prime minister resigns,” Sondhi Limthongkul, one of the leaders of the protests, told thousands of cheering supporters in the afternoon. “You must quit first, and then we will sit and talk.”

Confidently striding across a makeshift stage, Sondhi added: “Are we going to stay here tonight? The answer is definitely yes!”

Stranded passengers, many of them foreigners on vacation, were evacuated by airport staff from the terminal throughout the day Wednesday and sent to hotels in Bangkok. “Canceled” flashed across the flight schedule screens and check-in counters were not staffed.

Protesters set up cooking equipment and prepared vats of food in the terminal building, giving parts of the facility a festival-like atmosphere.

But with tensions running high among protesters and supporters of the government, the threat of violence remained high.

Assailants threw four explosive devices at anti-government demonstrators in pre-dawn attacks Wednesday, including one aimed at a group near the airport. At least three people were hurt, the police told The Associated Press.

In the northern city of Chiang Mai, government supporters killed an anti-government activist Wednesday, dragging him from his car before shooting him, Reuters reported.

The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok advised Americans to “stay away from the airport given the potential for violence and civil disobedience.”

The seizure of the airport came as Thailand entered its peak tourist season.

Many angry travelers who spent the night in the airport vowed never to return to the kingdom, a possible blow to a country where tourism provides millions of jobs and billions of dollars.

“Keeping the airport closed will paralyze the country,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies in Bangkok. “This is long-term damage for Thailand. Who would want to come to Thailand now?”

The ease with which the protesters have shut down government offices and occupied the airport raised concerns about the government’s ability to maintain order.

“This calls into question the government’s capability to secure its most critical assets,” said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University. Other facilities – power plants, dams, telecommunications centers – may also be vulnerable, Panitan said.

The airport was seized Tuesday by men wielding metal rods who pushed past riot police, marking a sharp intensification of three years of intermittent protests that have tarnished Thailand’s long-standing image as a freewheeling but stable nation. The protesters, who this week had declared a “final push” to unseat the government, have vowed to disrupt all government meetings. “If you can’t have a cabinet meeting it’s very difficult to rule the country,” Panitan said.

International Herald Tribune

Wicharn Sirichaiekawat said the Indian frigate had attacked the Ekawat Nava 5 while it was being hijacked by pirates.

He said one of the crew had been found alive after six days in the Gulf of Aden, but that another 14 were missing.

The Indian navy has insisted the vessel fired in self-defence at a pirate ship which had been stacked with explosives.

Almost 40 ships have been seized by Somali pirates so far this year.

Earlier, the authorities in Yemen confirmed pirates had captured a cargo ship carrying building material off the country’s coast. They said the pirates were demanding a ransom of $2m (£1.3m).

The latest incident came days after the Saudi oil tanker, Sirius Star, was hijacked. It was earlier moved further north up the Somali coast.

‘Self-defence’

Mr Wicharn told reporters in Bangkok that the Ekawat Nava 5 had been headed from Oman to Yemen last Tuesday to deliver fishing equipment when it was approached by Somali pirates in two speed boats in the Gulf of Aden.

The pirates were in the process of boarding the vessel and seizing control when the Indian navy frigate, the INS Tabar, sailed into view and demanded it stop for investigation, he added.

“The sunken ship which the Indian navy claimed was a ‘mother ship’ of pirates was not the ‘mother ship’ at all,” he said.

“The pirates wanted to take our ship to Somalia.”

Mr Wicharn said he had learnt the fate of his trawler from a Cambodian crew member who had survived the INS Tabar’s bombardment and had been rescued by a passing ship after six days adrift in the Indian Ocean.

The sailor was now recovering in a hospital in Yemen, he said.

Later, an Indian navy spokesman insisted that the Tabar had fired only upon a pirate “mother ship” which had threatened it.

“We fired in self-defence and in response to firing upon our vessel. It was a pirate vessel in the international waters and its stance was aggressive,” Commodore Nirad Sinha told CNN.

Following last week’s incident, the Indian navy said in a statement that the Tabar had spotted a pirate vessel while patrolling 285 nautical miles (530km) south-west of Salalah, Oman. It said those on board had been armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

When it demanded the vessel stop for investigation, the pirate ship had responded by threatening to “blow up the naval warship if it closed on her”, the statement said.

The pirates then fired on the Tabar, after which the Indians retaliated and there was an explosion on the pirate vessel, which then sank, it added.

India is one of several countries currently patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. France, India, South Korea, Russia, Spain, the US and Nato also have a presence in the region.

BBC NEWS

Bilateral talks on the issue were held on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe summit (Asem) in Beijing.

The demarcation of land around Preah Vihear temple on the countries’ border has never been clearly settled.

Tensions have recently been rekindled, and last week erupted into open combat. Three Cambodian and one Thai soldier died in exchanges of fire.

‘Uncontrollable’

Foreign ministers from the two countries spoke to reporters after the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Somchai Wongsawat, held talks earlier on Friday.

“We are not just neighbours, we are very good friends indeed,” Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat said.

“His Excellency Hun Sen said the incident that already happened is not the kind that both countries want. It happened instantly. That was uncontrollable at the time.”

Mr Sompong added that the two sides had been advised to avoid confrontation.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said: “What happened between us we have to solve peacefully, amicably, for the sake of our neighbourliness.”

The military stand-off began in July when Cambodian troops detained three Thai protesters who had entered the site illegally.

The dispute centres on 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.

An international court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but land surrounding it remains the subject of rival territorial claims.

‘No quick resolution’

Meanwhile, senior military officials echoed the pledge to reduce tensions as they met in Siem Reap in northern Cambodia.

Both are sides are “committed to exercising their utmost restraint to avoid confrontation or armed clashes”, said Cambodian regional army commander Maj Gen Chea Mon, according to AP news agency.

The two sides had agreed to joint border patrols to defuse tensions, but according to AFP news agency these have not materialised.

The BBC’s Guy De Launey, in Beijing for the Asem summit, cautions that Thailand’s domestic political situation could prove a distraction – and he says Cambodia has indicated it is not expecting a swift resolution.

The issue stirs intense nationalist passions on both sides, and an army recruitment drive in border areas has been over-subscribed, he adds.

BBC NEWS