Thai-Cambodia border accord collapses

SISAKET, Thailand, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A Thai-Cambodian joint border patrol agreement came apart Friday as troops from both countries guarded a disputed land patch, military officials said.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen called for more talks with Thailand two days after a military clash killed three Cambodian soldiers and injured two. Seven Thai troops were injured in the clash.

The Thai News Agency said both sides' soldiers "remained stationed at their bases and the situation has returned more or less to normal."

Meanwhile, Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat insisted Friday he wouldn't resign, a day after army chief Gen. Anupong Paojinda went on television to encourage the premier, who has been in office one month, to step down.

The prime minister has been under fire over his handling of an Oct. 7 domestic clash left two dead and nearly 500 injured.

The Cambodian-Thai standoff stems from a century-long dispute over an area surrounding the 11th-century Preah Vihear Temple, located between northeastern Thailand's Sisaket province and northern Cambodia's Preah Vihear province.

The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, citing a 1907 map. But Thailand said the map didn't follow a watershed line that had been agreed to by a bilateral border commission.

Thailand handed over the temple and surrounding area, but hasn't withdrawn from the surrounding land, claiming the border hasn't been officially demarcated.