Planned talks come as Southeast Asian leaders urge both countries to show ‘maximum restraint’ and return to dialogue.

Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to hold a meeting of defence officials later this week as regional leaders push for an end to deadly violence along the two countries’ shared border.

Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow announced the planned talks on Monday after a special meeting in Kuala Lumpur of Southeast Asian foreign ministers, who were trying to salvage a ceasefire.

That truce was first brokered by Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chair Malaysia and United States President Donald Trump after cross-border fighting broke out in July.

Sihasak told reporters that this week’s discussions would be held on Wednesday in Thailand’s Chanthaburi, within the framework of an existing bilateral border committee.

But just hours after the regional crisis talks were held in Malaysia, Cambodia’s Ministry of Defence said the Thai military deployed fighter jets to bomb areas of Siem Reap and Preah Vihear provinces.

The Thai army said Cambodia had fired dozens of rockets into Thailand, with Bangkok’s air force responding with air strikes on two Cambodian military targets.

Thailand and Cambodia have engaged in daily exchanges of rocket and artillery fire along their 817km (508-mile) land border following the collapse of the truce, with fighting at multiple points stretching from forested regions near Laos to the coastal provinces of the Gulf of Thailand.

Despite the cross-border fire, Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior said it remains “optimistic that the Thai side will demonstrate sincerity” in implementing a ceasefire.

Thailand’s Sihasak, however, cautioned that the upcoming meeting may not immediately produce a truce. “Our position is a ceasefire does not come with an announcement, but must come from actions,” he said.

His ministry said the two nations’ militaries would “discuss implementation, related steps and verification of the ceasefire in detail”.

The planned meeting comes as ASEAN on Monday urged both countries to show “maximum restraint and take immediate steps towards the cessation of all forms of hostilities”.

In a statement after the talks in Kuala Lumpur, ASEAN also called on both Thailand and Cambodia to “restore mutual trust and confidence, and to return to dialogue”.

ASEAN members also reiterated their concerns over the ongoing conflict and “called upon both parties to ensure that civilians residing in the affected border areas are able to return, without obstruction and in safety and dignity, to their homes”.