Thai residents evacuate from their homes following clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in Sisaket province, Thailand, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

SURIN, Thailand — Tens of thousands of people sought refuge on Friday as border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia entered a second day, heightening fears of an extended conflict.

The U.N. Security Council was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis later Friday in New York, while Malaysia, which chairs a regional bloc that includes both countries, called for an end to hostilities and offered to mediate.

The Thai Health Ministry on Friday said more than 58,000 have fled from villages to temporary shelters in four affected border provinces, while Cambodian authorities said more than 23,000 people have evacuated from areas near the border.

The latest flare-up in a long-running border dispute between the two countries has killed at least 19 people in Thailand — mostly civilians –while Cambodia confirmed its first fatality on Friday.

Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, said Friday that Cambodia may be guilty of war crimes due to the deaths of civilians and damage caused to a hospital. He said Thailand had exercised the “utmost restraint and patience in the face of provocations and aggression” from Cambodia.

Tensions over a disputed border area erupted into fighting after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers on Wednesday.

Clashes break out across border areas

The Thai military reported clashes early Friday in multiple areas along the border, including near the ancient Ta Muen Thom temple claimed by both sides. Associated Press reporters near the border could hear sounds of artillery from early morning hours.

The Thai army said Cambodian forces had used heavy artillery and Russian-made BM-21 rocket launchers, prompting what Thai officials described as “appropriate supporting fire” in return.

Thailand said six of its soldiers and 13 civilians were killed, including children, while 29 soldiers and 30 civilians were wounded.

Cambodia’s chief official in Oddar Meanchey province, Gen. Khov Ly, said a man died Thursday after a Thai rocket hit a Buddhist pagoda where he was hiding. At least four civilians in the province were also wounded Thursday.

Thousands flee villages near the border

As the fighting intensified, villagers on both sides have been caught in the crossfire, leading many to flee.

Around 600 people took shelter at a gymnasium in a university in Surin, Thailand, about 50 miles from the border. Evacuees sat in groups, on mats and blankets, and queued for food and drinks.

Seamstress Pornpan Sooksai was accompanied by four cats in two fabric carriers. She said she was doing laundry at her home near Ta Muen Thom temple when shelling began Thursday.

“I just heard, boom, boom. We already prepared the cages, clothes and everything, so we ran and carried our things to the car. I was frightened, scared,” she recalled.

Rattana Meeying, another evacuee, said she had also lived through the 2011 clashes between the two countries but described this flare-up as worse.

“Children, old people, were hit out of the blue,” she said. “I never imagined it would be this violent.”

ASEAN chair calls for calm

The conflict marks a rare instance of armed confrontation between member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, though Thailand has tangled with Cambodia before over the border and has had sporadic skirmishes with western neighbor Myanmar.

Malaysia, the current ASEAN chair, expressed concern.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Friday that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to a ceasefire and to withdraw their troops from the border, but requested more time before implementing the action, according to a report by Malaysia’s Bernama national news agency.

Anwar said he had spoken to both Cambodian leader Hun Manet and Thailand’s Phumtham and urged them to open space for “peaceful dialogue and diplomatic resolution,” while offering to have Malaysia facilitate talks.

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Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.