ISTANBUL

Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen on Friday claimed that former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra fled Thailand using a Cambodian passport, reigniting tensions between the two Southeast Asian neighbors.

“I pitied Yingluck. She still holds a Cambodian passport and resides overseas. But she’s suffering because of her brother, and now again because of her niece. I didn’t want to speak out—but I must,” Hun Sen said, according to Cambodian media outlet Fresh News Asia.

He claimed Yingluck was transported from Poipet, near the Thai-Cambodian border, after flying from Singapore to Siem Reap.

“The plane landed, and she immediately got in the car. Today, the truth comes out,” he claimed.

Yingluck served as Thailand’s prime minister from 2011 to 2014 before being ousted in a coup. Her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, was also removed from office in a 2006 military coup.

Hun Sen expressed frustration with Thailand’s current Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Yingluck’s niece and Thaksin’s daughter, saying: “She may insult her own military, but she cannot insult me.”

The remarks follow the leak of a phone call between Paetongtarn and Hun Sen in which the Thai leader allegedly criticized her country’s military, specifically the 2nd Army Region commander, over escalating border tensions with Cambodia.

The leaked conversation sparked political backlash in Thailand, with opposition figures calling for Paetongtarn’s resignation.

Meanwhile, Hun Sen visited Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province along the Thai border on Thursday, ordering the country’s armed forces to remain on high alert.

“This time, we will not only fight to defend ourselves, but we will also go on the offensive,” Hun Sen said, according to Khmer Times.

“We want to live in peace, and you soldiers want to stay with your families, but internal chaos within a neighboring country is driving a conflict with us,” he added.

Border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia have been simmering since May 28, when troops exchanged fire along the frontier, leaving one Cambodian soldier dead.