Cambodian and Thai military forces agreed to tear down a Cambodian villager’s cottage unwittingly built in a disputed area along the border near Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district on Monday.

Touch Ra, chief of border relations at the Cambodia-Thai Chhoam Sror Ngam international border gate, said 46-year-old Cambodian woman Sam Rith had built a cottage in a disputed area that Cambodia and Thailand’s militaries had agreed not to allow people to live in until a demarcation agreement was reached.

She was confronted by eight Thai soldiers on Monday who wanted to tear down the small building, Touch Ra said.

“We requested that the black-clad Thai military retreat back to their station so we could tear down the cottage by ourselves and they agreed,” he said.