Thai online users shared edited report about Cambodia landmine incident

As border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia continued to simmer following a deadly clash in May 2025, social media users shared a news segment with an altered news chyron falsely claiming it shows a Cambodian soldier injured after stepping on a landmine. But the original news clip shows a Thai woman who was hurt in a landmine explosion in 2023.

"Cambodian soldiers planted a mine, but one stepped on it himself and was seriously injured," reads a Thai-language X post shared on July 14, 2025.

The post includes a 14-second video that shows several uniformed personnel helping someone lying on the ground, with a chyron that reads: "Shocking! Cambodian soldier steps on their own landmine, loses leg".

The posts emerged as a long-standing border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia escalated into a deadly clash in May 2025, killing one Cambodian soldier (archived link).

The incident soured relations between Phnom Penh and Bangkok -- causing the closure of border crossings as Cambodia banned fuel and gas imports from Thailand (archived link).

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Screenshot of the false X post, taken on July 15, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

Cambodia media reported that as the border dispute heats up, its army trained border soldiers in mine detection and demining techniques (archived link).

The country remains littered with mines, discarded ammunition and other arms from decades of war starting in the 1960s.

It had aimed to be mine-free by 2025, but the government pushed the deadline back by five years because of funding challenges and new landmine fields found along the Thai border (archived link).

The same claim has also been shared in an X post and on TikTok.

But the original news segment shows officials tending to an injured Thai woman two years ago.

A reverse image search on Google led to a longer YouTube video published by Thai broadcaster Channel 7 News on May 28, 2023 (archived link).

The footage matches the video in the false post at the 1:18 mark.

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Screenshot comparison between the false X post (left) and the YouTube video by Channel 7 News

The original headline reads: "Officials rush to help Thai woman in Sa Kaeo after stepping on a landmine -- severed foot, heavy bleeding."

Corresponding news reports by local media say the 46-year-old Thai woman was injured by a landmine while foraging in the Thai-Cambodian border area, losing her left foot (archived here and here).

AFP observed the Thai-language news chyron in the clip contained misspellings and formatting inconsistencies, indicating it was digitally manipulated. The original text was replaced to suggest the incident involved Cambodian forces.

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Screenshot of the false X post, with red rectangle added by AFP to highlight the altered news chyron

Khmer Times also reported that a Cambodian soldier was also injured while trying to save the Thai woman in the same incident (archived link).

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Cambodia-Thailand border dispute.