Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire early on Friday, breaking a ceasefire agreed the day before to end a week of border clashes that have killed 16 people and wounded scores in Southeast Asia’s deadliest border dispute in years.Each side blamed the other for firing first, but both said they still wanted to give the truce a chance.Brief clashes with guns and small hand grenades broke out twice overnight, Thai regional army commander Thawatchai Samutsakorn said. The clash killed one Thai soldier and wounded four others. It was not clear if there were casualties on the Cambodian side.The ceasefire was supposed to end a week of sporadic artillery and small-rocket fire that fanned nationalist passions in both countries, threatened to overshadow elections in Thailand and reinforced doubts over Southeast Asia’s ambitions to form a European Union-style community by 2015.The guns have been silent since 3 a.m. but tension remained high with troops still stationed in close proximity around two ancient temples in the poorly demarcated Dongrak Mountain Range.Thailand blamed the latest skirmish on a misunderstanding on the ground in Cambodia.
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