Cambodian troops fire on Bangkok Airways plane

[keeping_it_riel]

CAMBODIAN troops have fired shots at a passenger aircraft flying near the country's disputed border with Thailand, believing it to be a spy plane.

"The Cambodian military fired because there was a Thai passenger plane - Bangkok Airways - which could not land at Siem Reap airport because of bad weather," said Thai deputy army spokesman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong.
"It was misunderstood by Cambodia to be spy plane," he said, adding that no one was hurt in the incident near the northern Cambodian tourist destination of Siem Reap.

Cambodian military at the border - the site of deadly territorial clashes between the neighbouring countries last year - confirmed troops had opened fire at an aircraft.

"It was dark so we could not see what type of plane it was. But it was circling many times and then our soldiers fired 18 shots from a machine gun, but it missed the plane because it was flying very high," Commander Seng Phearin said.

"I think a passenger plane would not fly around the border. We suspected it was a spy plane, so we fired to defend our airspace," he said, adding the aircraft had been around 10km inside Cambodia.

He said the incident happened at 7pm local time (10pm AEST) on Wednesday, although the Thai authorities said it occurred Thursday morning.
AFP was unable to immediately contact Bangkok Airways.

Cambodia and Thailand traded heavy arms fire over a disputed border in early 2011 under the previous Thai government, but ties have warmed significantly since Yingluck Shinawatra took power in Thailand.

Ms Yingluck, whose brother Thaksin has remained close to Phnom Penh strongman HE since being deposed from power in a 2006 coup, is due to meet the Cambodian leader for talks in Siem Reap on Friday.

The meeting will be on the sidelines of the largest ever gathering of American businesses in Asia hosted by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and attended by a score of regional dignitaries.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/troo ... z20TIbCexb

When asked, Commander Seng Phearin said his favorite animal was a carrot.

[proyat]

The fall out if they'd hit it would have been terrible.

* boom tish*

[digiboy]

"It was dark so we could not see what type of plane it was. But it was circling many times and then our soldiers fired 18 shots from a machine gun, but it missed the plane because it was flying very high," Commander Seng Phearin said.

OMG!

LOL!!!

[jm]

The national motto should just be WTF. Cambodia makes Borat's Kazakstan look sophisticated by comparison. This is not a real country. Bring back the Vietnamese, it's the only hope.

[digiboy]

LOL!!!

nice one JM

[doktor_d]

The national motto should just be WTF. Cambodia makes Borat's Kazakstan look sophisticated by comparison. This is not a real country. Bring back the Vietnamese, it's the only hope.

That's the most ridiculous post I have seen you make so far. Good work.

[Lucky Lucan]

We suspected it was a spy plane, so we fired to defend our airspace,

Spying on a tree and a pile of stones.

[keeping_it_riel]

They're now all pretending it didn't happen because Hilary is in town. And that troop commander who fessed is probably already hanging upside down in a cellar somewhere with scorpions hanging off his nads.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[doktor_d]

Oddly enough.. the PPP has a different version of the story :

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071357395/National-news/border-incident-accounts-clash.html

Cambodia and Thailand are in disagreement over whether one of two aircrafts Cambodian armed forces fired at last night was a military plane or a Thai Airways passenger plane.

Royal Cambodian Armed Forces officials said two Thai military planes had crossed illegally into Cambodian air space over Banteay Meanchey last night, drawing what they termed warning shots from anti-aircraft installations.

So Chan Heng, commander of RCAF’s Division 51, said the two patrolling planes flew from O’Lahong village in Malai district to the international checkpoint in Poipet.

“Thai planes violated our air space with the intention of spying, but we did not shoot the planes down. We had just shot as a warning in order to show that the planes must fly properly inside Thai air space,” Heng said.

But a Thai army official said that Cambodian troops had actually mistakenly fired at a Bangkok Airways passenger flight.

“The Cambodian military fired because there was a Thai passenger plane – Bangkok Airways – which could not land at Siem Reap airport because of bad weather,” said deputy army spokesman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong.

He added that no one was hurt during the incident.

The incident came a day before Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is due to address a high-level business conference in Siem Reap.

Yingluck will meet separately with Prime Minister HE to discuss the long-simmering border dispute around the Preah Vihear temple.

The Thais would never lie about military planes going into Cambodian airspace of course.. Noooooooooooo... never

As usual the resident K440 Khmer bashers are quick to pick the source that fits their view the best.

[cambod]

Retards!

[jm]

Oddly enough.. the PPP has a different version of the story :

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071357395/National-news/border-incident-accounts-clash.html

Cambodia and Thailand are in disagreement over whether one of two aircrafts Cambodian armed forces fired at last night was a military plane or a Thai Airways passenger plane.

Royal Cambodian Armed Forces officials said two Thai military planes had crossed illegally into Cambodian air space over Banteay Meanchey last night, drawing what they termed warning shots from anti-aircraft installations.

So Chan Heng, commander of RCAF’s Division 51, said the two patrolling planes flew from O’Lahong village in Malai district to the international checkpoint in Poipet.

“Thai planes violated our air space with the intention of spying, but we did not shoot the planes down. We had just shot as a warning in order to show that the planes must fly properly inside Thai air space,” Heng said.

But a Thai army official said that Cambodian troops had actually mistakenly fired at a Bangkok Airways passenger flight.

“The Cambodian military fired because there was a Thai passenger plane – Bangkok Airways – which could not land at Siem Reap airport because of bad weather,” said deputy army spokesman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong.

He added that no one was hurt during the incident.

The incident came a day before Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is due to address a high-level business conference in Siem Reap.

Yingluck will meet separately with Prime Minister HE to discuss the long-simmering border dispute around the Preah Vihear temple.

The Thais would never lie about military planes going into Cambodian airspace of course.. Noooooooooooo... never

As usual the resident K440 Khmer bashers are quick to pick the source that fits their view the best.

My comments were based upon the only article linked to at the time and quotes attributed to Cambodian officials. Not sure how that constitutes choosing sides. When it comes to the border dispute Cambodia typically is in the right as far as I'm concerned.

[shitegeist]

There were a few aircraft that tried and failed to land at SR on Wednesday evening, and that eventually diverted to PP. That much is true. But no aircraft in a holding pattern around REP, undertaking a go-around, or diverting to PP would end up anywhere remotely near that border area.

Just one of many reasons why the story as originally reported doesn't make any sense.

[cambod]

At least the military is sticking to protocol: shoot first and ask questions later.

[shitegeist]

At least the military is sticking to protocol: shoot first and ask questions later.

Exactly. It doesn't matter whether it was a passenger aircraft or not. The fact that these fucking RCAF clowns at the border lack the ability to identify what kind of aircraft is flying over them, but will happily open fire on it anyway, is some pretty scary shit.

[starkmonster]

Every published story so far has a different version of events, but I seriously doubt the Thai version. Cambodia definitely does have the military capability to identify aircraft in its airspace and the exact type of aircraft at that, that capability will be deployed at the border along with their anti-aircraft weaponry. IFF is very basic stuff and has been around since WW2.

The only way this could happen is trigger happy soldiers on the border, but as we all know, no one does anything here, especially guys manning air defenses without getting the nod from above as taking down a plane even if it was military and in their airspace will be classed as a major incident. Their superiors would have know exactly what type of aircraft it was.

The Thai's have already been flying UAV's and spy planes at the border. I believe the story of the Bangkok Airways flight being diverted but I would bet a pound to a penny the Thai's forces used that as an opportunity to put a plane up of their own. It's a win either way, if the Cambodians decide to let them go because of the proximity of the civilian aircraft the Thai's win and get some good imagery, if Cambodia decides to fire on them, then they also win as they can claim Cambodia was taking pot shots at a civilian aircraft.

Also this story came from the Thai press originally. I wonder how the Thai military knew that the Cambodians had shot at a civilian aircraft when the civilian aircraft didn't even know it had happened?

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/302192/cambodian-soldiers-opened-fire-on-thai-commercial-plane

I'm sure we'll get the actual story in the coming days. You know what they say, the first casualty of war is the truth.