Fenced off: Thailand builds border wall after Cambodia clashes

The Thai military has begun installing an 8.4-kilometer concrete and barbed-wire wall along its border with Cambodia following deadly clashes in July and December last year that displaced 500,000 people. The first completed kilometer, standing 3.6 meters tall, cuts through farmland in Chanthaburi province and interrupts century-old French colonial-era border markers.

A Thai commander says the wall targets smuggling and insists the project sits entirely within Thai territory, subject to inspection by Cambodian forces. Nearby villagers, who lost some farmland to the barrier, say they support it anyway, describing a newfound wariness after fighting that some residents now guard against with home bunkers.

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