FROM PAGE 1

Footage from the scene showed smoke pouring from a convenience store attached to the petrol station. Provincial officials said most of the dead were students inside the shop when the attack happened.

“I heard a loud noise three or four times, and when I looked over, there was a gigantic cloud of smoke,” Praphas Intaracheun, a 53-year-old gardener from Sisaket, told AFP.

He was refuelling at another petrol station around 300 metres (984 feet) from the one that was hit.

“I’m scared it might escalate during the night when you can’t see anything. I don’t even dare sleep,” he said.

Thailand said 35 people have been wounded, and accused Cambodia of targeting civilian buildings.

A 30-bed hospital in the town of Phanom Dong Rak in Surin province, just 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the border, was hit by shells which shattered windows and collapsed part of a roof.

The facility, which was also struck in the last major clashes between the two countries in 2011, was partially evacuated on Wednesday night as a precaution.

“We got a tip that there would be an attack from Cambodia,” a soldier stationed at the entrance told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“There is no telling when it will be safe enough for patients to return.”

‘MY HOUSE WAS SHAKING’

Fighting was focused on six locations, the Thai army said, with ground troops and tanks battling Cambodian forces for control of territory.

Six Thai air force jets were deployed, hitting two “Cambodian military targets on the ground”, according to Thai military deputy spokesperson Ritcha Suksuwanon.

Cambodia has not yet commented on casualties on its side. Defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata refused to answer when asked about the issue at a news conference.

AFP journalists met Cambodians fleeing their villages near the Thai border to escape the fighting.