Explosions Shatter Sports Day: Lives Amid Cross-Border Conflict

Six-year-old Sunisa Chanprakhon's anticipation for her school sports day quickly vanished in a Thai border village as explosions shattered the morning calm.

'We didn't get to run,' she lamented, standing in front of a tent her mother had pitched in a university sports hall now transformed into a refuge for evacuees. The Thai-Cambodia conflict erupted again, with heavy artillery fire exchanged over contested frontiers, marking the region's worst violence in over ten years.

The hostilities have claimed at least 15 lives, predominantly Thai civilians, and displaced over 100,000 people in Thailand and 1,500 families in Cambodia. Evacuations have disrupted daily life, closing schools and halting farming activities, the backbone of the local economy, leaving villagers to cope with the fear of renewed attacks amidst a backdrop of decade-long territorial disputes.

(With inputs from agencies.)