A FIREFIGHT on Oct 28 between RCAF soldiers and Thai
rangers that left four Cambodians dead and a Thai wounded
may well have been over stolen cars.
Resistance leader Nhek Bun Chhay said the soldiers
were former Khmer Rouge from Division 23 in Anlong Veng.
He said the soldiers wandered into the Thai refugee camp
of Phuo Noi to take their families living there back to
Cambodia.
This part of the story was independently confirmed by
Huot Chheang, the deputy chief of operations for RCAF
General Staff.
However, their versions on why the returning RCAF
soldiers got into their deadly battle with the Thai
rangers differs.
Bun Chhay said the group was attacked by Ta Mok
soldiers, which in turn alerted Thai rangers stationed
nearby who fired, thinking they were fighting hardline KR
insurgents.
No, said Huot Chheang: "Some of our brother
defectors in Anlong Veng missed their families who were
living in the camp in Thailand. They went to bring them
back.
"But when they did not have any transport they
halted some Thais who were driving by [and stole their
vehicles]," he said, chuckling.
When the soldiers tried to return to Cambodia Thai
soldiers stopped them and the fight broke out, he said.
