Three migrants from Myanmar have been killed and two wounded after a drone used in their country’s civil war exploded in neighbouring Thailand where they were working, Thai police said on Wednesday (June 3, 2026).

Thai authorities received reports of the blast in Tak province, opposite Myanmar’s Karen state, on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) afternoon and rushed to the scene, local police chief Anusorn Dungkong told AFP.

“Three people have died, all of them Myanmar migrant workers, and two others were injured,” he said.

The apparent attack drone struck a tree on the Thai side of the border before exploding, killing the labourers who worked on a nearby chilli farm, Mr. Anusorn added.

The two injured people, also from Myanmar, were taken to a local hospital for treatment, he said.

Myanmar’s armed forces have been fighting myriad pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic-minority armed groups since the military seized power in a 2021 coup.

Myanmar’s borderlands are home to various ethnic-minority factions, many of which have battled the military for autonomy and control of lucrative natural resources since the country’s independence from Britain in 1948.

Both the military and ethnic armies are known to use drones in battle, but it was not immediately clear which side had launched the drone that exploded in Thai territory.

Karen rebel factions control much of the state and heavy fighting with the military on Tuesday sent scores of Myanmar people fleeing across the border into Thailand, local media reports said.

The United States has become the “real” United Nations and the world body has been of very little help in resolving conflicts around the world, President Donald Trump said as he announced that the fighting between Thailand and Cambodia will stop momentarily.

“I am pleased to announce that the breakout fighting between Thailand and Cambodia will stop momentarily, and they will go back to living in peace, as per our recently agreed to original Treaty,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday (December 28, 2025).

Mr. Trump congratulated both the “great leaders on their brilliance in coming to this rapid and very fair conclusion,” saying that it was “fast & decisive” as all of these situations should be.

He said the U.S., as always, was proud to help in bringing the hostilities to an end, as he criticised the UN for its failure in resolving conflicts around the world. He also again claimed credit for ending eight wars in the first eight months of his second term in the White House. 

“With all of the wars and conflicts I have settled and stopped over the last eleven months, eight, perhaps the United States has become the real United Nations, which has been of very little assistance or help in any of them, including the disaster currently going on between Russia and Ukraine,” Mr. Trump said. 

The United Nations must start getting active and involved in world peace, he added.

Mr. Trump is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Palm Beach, Florida, residence on Sunday for talks on a peace plan to end the conflict with Russia.

Mr. Trump has been critical of the UN and its failure to maintain international peace and security, slamming the world organisation as he addressed global leaders during the UN General Assembly high-level session in September this year.

“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them. And sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them,” Mr. Trump had said from the UNGA podium.

The fighting between Cambodia and Thailand is among the eight wars that Trump has claimed he settled, along with the conflicts between India and Pakistan, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia and Armenia and Azerbaijan.   

Fighting resumed between Cambodia and Thailand on December 7, with the UN noting that “strikes have increasingly been reported further from the border and into each other’s territories.”

The U.S. on Saturday welcomed the announcement from Cambodia and Thailand on reaching a ceasefire that halts hostilities along their border following the General Border Committee meeting.

Washington urged the two nations to immediately honour this commitment and fully implement the terms of the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords.

Top diplomats from Thailand and Cambodia kicked off two days of talks in China on Sunday (December 28, 2025) as Beijing seeks to strengthen its role in mediating the two countries’ border dispute, a day after they signed a new ceasefire.

The ceasefire agreement signed on Saturday (December 27) calls for a halt to weeks of fighting along their contested border that has killed more than 100 people and displaced over half a million people in both countries.

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow and Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn were set to meet in China’s southwestern Yunnan province for talks mediated by their Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

The talks aim to ensure a sustained ceasefire and promote lasting peace between the countries, according to a statement by Mr. Sihasak’s office.

Wang Yi was scheduled to join both bilateral meetings with each of the diplomats and a trilateral talk on Monday.

China has welcomed the ceasefire announcement, which freezes the front lines and allows for displaced civilians to return to their homes near the border.

“China stands ready to continue to provide the platform and create conditions for Cambodia and Thailand to have fuller and more detailed communication,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement read.

The ceasefire agreement comes with a 72-hour observation period, at the end of which Thailand agreed to repatriate 18 Cambodian soldiers it has held as prisoners since earlier fighting in July. Their release has been a major demand of the Cambodian side.

China has sought to position itself as a mediator in the crisis, along with the United States and Malaysia.

A July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed.

Despite those deals, Thailand and Cambodia carried on a bitter propaganda war, and minor cross-border violence continued, erupting into heavy fighting in early December.

Prak Sokhonn, in a statement after his meeting with Wang, expressed deep appreciation for China’s “vital role” in supporting the ceasefire.

China also announced 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) of emergency humanitarian aid for Cambodia to assist the displaced.

The first batch of Chinese aid, including food, tents and blankets, arrived in Cambodia on Sunday (December 28, 2025), Wang Wenbin, Chinese ambassador to Cambodia, wrote on Facebook.

Mr. Sihasak said Sunday (December 28, 2025) he hoped the meetings would convey to China that it should both support a sustainable ceasefire and send a signal to Cambodia against reviving the conflict or attempting to create further ones.

“Thailand does not see China merely as a mediator in our conflict with Cambodia but wants China to play a constructive role in ensuring a sustainable ceasefire by sending such signals to Cambodia as well,” he said.

Thailand and Cambodia ​agreed on Saturday (December 27, 2025) to halt ‌weeks of fierce ​border clashes, the worst fighting in years between the Southeast Asian countries that has included fighter jets sorties, exchange of rocket fire and artillery barrages.

“Both sides ​agree to maintain current ⁠troop deployments without further movement,” their Defence Ministers said in a joint statement ​on the ceasefire, ⁠to take effect at noon (0500 GMT).

“Any reinforcement would heighten tensions and negatively affect long-term efforts ‌to resolve the situation,” ‌according to the statement released on social media by ‍Cambodia’s Defence Ministry.

The agreement, signed by Thai Defence Minister Natthaphon Nakrphanit ‍and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Seiha, ended 20 days of fighting that has killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million on both sides.

The clashes ⁠were re-ignited in early December after a breakdown in ​a ceasefire that U.S. President ⁠Donald Trump had helped broker to halt a previous round of fighting in July.

Thailand on Tuesday (December 23, 2025) rejected a request by Cambodia to hold bilateral talks in a neutral country, leaving a planned meeting to negotiate an end to deadly border clashes in doubt.

The nations’ long-standing border conflict reignited this month, shattering an earlier truce, killing more than 40 people and displacing over 900,000 on both sides, officials said.

The clashing neighbours on Monday (December 22) agreed to negotiate truce terms this week, but Cambodia asked Thailand to hold the talks in a neutral venue, Malaysia’s capital.

Thailand’s Defence Ministry, however, said Tuesday (December 23) that the bilateral border committee meeting would go ahead in Thailand’s Chanthaburi province from Wednesday (December 24) as planned.

“We guarantee Chanthaburi is safe. This province is the original plan for hosting the GBC (General Border Committee) even before the fighting started,” Thai Defence Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri told reporters.

Mr. Surasant said officials from the border committee would meet from Wednesday (December 24) to Saturday (December 27), adding that whether the meeting happened or not depended on Cambodia.

A Cambodian government spokesman told AFP he had no updated information on the meeting venue.

The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.

Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting since December 7 and traded accusations of attacks on civilians, after five days of clashes in July killed dozens.

The United States, China and Malaysia brokered a truce to end that round of fighting, but the ceasefire was short-lived.

Trump weighs in

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Monday (December 22) announced the parley with Cambodia after a crisis meeting in Kuala Lumpur with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Cambodia is also a member.

But in a letter to his Thai counterpart Nattaphon Narkphanit, Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Seiha requested the meeting be held in Kuala Lumpur for security reasons.

“Due to the ongoing fighting along the border, this meeting should be held in a safe and neutral venue,” Tea Seiha wrote in the letter, which AFP obtained on Tuesday (December 23).

Thailand’s Defence Minister told journalists the last border committee meeting was held in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province, so it was Thailand’s turn to host, adding that there was nothing to fear as Thais could separate military and diplomatic matters.

But Mr. Nattaphon also said Thai forces would keep fighting as long as Cambodia did, as combat that has stretched along nearly the entirety of the border so far has only calmed in parts of two provinces.

The Cambodian Defence Ministry said Thai forces shelled the Cambodian border city of Poipet and bombed parts of the border province of Preah Vihear on Tuesday (December 23).

In October, US President Donald Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia, touting new trade deals after they agreed in Kuala Lumpur to prolong their truce.

But Thailand suspended the agreement the following month

Mr. Trump on Monday (December 22) referred again to the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand as one of the eight wars he had “solved” around the world.

“Thailand is starting to shape up. You know, they started with Cambodia, they started up again,” he told journalists in Florida.

“But I think… we have that in pretty good shape, to have that stopped.”

China’s defence cooperation with Cambodia and Thailand, including arms trade, “does not target any third party … and is completely unrelated to the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict,” its Defence Ministry said on Thursday (December 18, 2025).

“We hope relevant parties will refrain from making subjective speculation and malicious hype,” the Chinese Ministry said in response to reports that Thai troops seized Chinese-made weapons from Cambodian positions as border clashes between the Southeast Asian neighbours reignited.

Beijing hopes the two countries can reach a ceasefire as soon as possible, the defence ministry said, according to a statement released on its social media account. “China is and will continue to advocate for peace and talks,” it added.

At least one person was killed in Cambodia amid a flare-up of conflict with Thailand on Wednesday (November 12, 2025) as the neighbours accused each other of opening fire along a disputed part of their border, threatening a U.S.-brokered truce.

Earlier on Wednesday (November 12, 2025) Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said it had demanded an apology from Cambodia after accusing it of laying fresh landmines that maimed a Thai soldier on Monday (November 10, 2025).

On Tuesday (November 11, 2025), Thailand said it was suspending an enhanced ceasefire agreement that the two nations signed last month in the presence of President Donald Trump.

Cambodia denies the charge that it has laid new mines and has urged Thailand to adhere to the October deal, which built on an initial ceasefire negotiated by Mr. Trump to end five days of fighting in July.

Firing near disputed border village

Cambodia’s Defence Ministry said Thai troops opened fire near a disputed border village at around 3:50 p.m. local time (0850 GMT) on Wednesday (November 12, 2025).

One person was killed and three wounded, the Ministry said in a statement.

Thai Army spokesman Major General Winthai Suvaree said Cambodian soldiers initially fired shots into Thailand.

“Thai forces took cover and fired warning shots in response, following rules of engagement,” he said, adding that there were no casualties on the Thai side. “The incident lasted about 10 minutes before calm was restored.”

The disputed frontier settlement, which Thailand says is part of its Ban Nong Ya Kaew village in Sa Kaeo province, but which Cambodia says is part of Prey Chan village in Banteay Meanchey province, has been the site of previous confrontations.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told reporters on Wednesday (November 12, 2025) that Thailand was calling for an apology from Cambodia for Monday’s (November 10, 2025) landmine incident.

“We asked them to find the facts on what happened and who is accountable, and with it, asked them to put in place measures to prevent the future recurrence of the situation.”

A Cambodian government spokesman declined to comment on Thailand’s demands.

At least 48 people were killed and an estimated 3,00,000 temporarily displaced during the July clashes, which saw the exchange of rocket fire, heavy artillery and airstrikes.

Landmine blasts along disputed frontier areas were among the catalysts behind the border clashes, with at least seven Thai soldiers severely injured in as many mine-related incidents since July 16.

Some of these mines were likely newly laid, Reuters reported in October, based on expert analysis of material shared by Thailand’s military.

The Southeast Asian neighbours have contested sovereignty for more than a century over undemarcated points along their 817-km (508-mile) land border, first mapped in 1907 by France when it ruled Cambodia as a colony.

Myanmar and Thailand’s busiest trade crossing was closed for a second day on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) after the military junta pledged to throttle black markets funding armed opposition groups ahead of a disputed December election.

The military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, controls the Myawaddy bridge that carries more than $120 million of trade between the neighbouring nations every month, according to Thai customs figures.

However, along the highway linking the crossing to the commercial capital Yangon, its troops are fighting a civil war against an array of guerrillas who fund their fighting with lucrative toll gates.

Naing Maung Zaw, a spokesman for the military’s Border Guard Forces, said the crossing had been shut “for trading vehicles” since Monday.

The military has pledged to clamp down on illicit trade funding its opponents ahead of a December 28 election, which is already being criticised abroad as a ploy to rebrand continuing military rule.

The vote is also set to be blocked in huge tracts of the country administered by a kaleidoscope of pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic armed organisations that have found common cause since the coup.

A Thai security source based at the border, speaking anonymously, said the junta had “set regulations to make it uncomfortable for minority groups, to try to stop them from earning money or benefits”.

As the junta shut the crossing on Monday, it announced the late December start date for phased elections that it has trumpeted as an off ramp to the civil war.

The military has made limited gains against rebels in recent weeks, seizing back ground where it can now hold the election. The poll is expected to take weeks to complete.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing pledged last week to combat border-based opposition fighters that “use the profits collected from illegal trade to strengthen their forces”.

Ahead of the polls, democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi remains jailed after being deposed, with her party dissolved and other ousted lawmakers calling for a boycott.

The junta has also introduced harsh new laws dictating prison sentences of up to 10 years for critics or those who protest against the vote.