Thai soldiers have been accused of planting a grenade trap near a Cambodian border post, prompting a threat from police that officers will open fire if it happens again.

Pum Chan, deputy police chief for Battambang province, said his forces saw the grenade tied to a cassava plant about 20 meters away from Border Post 59 while patrolling in Kamrieng district on Wednesday.

“Our police immediately called Thai soldiers to check, and they confessed it belonged to them,” Mr. Chan said.

“I think it was their intention to cause problems because if someone walking past had released the tie, it would have exploded.”

The Thai army’s local commander called to apologize later that day, blaming inexperienced soldiers for planting the explosive.

“Their commander apologized to us by saying that they had only been soldiers for 18 months and didn’t know the situation,” he said.

“We have warned Thai soldiers that if this happens again, the Cambodian side will fire weapons, and they promised they will not let this kind of thing happen anymore.”

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