For four days Cambodian and Thai troops have exchanged gunfire and artillery shells in the vicinity of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, a World Heritage Site in the Dangrek Mountains 300 miles east of Bangkok.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said five Cambodians had been killed and 45 injured.

Fighting in the remote area is "threatening regional security," Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said.

"We need the United Nations to send forces here and create a buffer zone to guarantee that there is no more fighting," he said during a university graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh. "We will go to the U.N. Security Council whether you like it or not."

Sen earlier wrote to the Security Council asking for help against what he termed Thailand's "repeated acts of aggression" against Cambodia and requested an emergency council meeting.

In the latest clashes of a long-simmering frontier dispute, each side accuses the other of starting the confrontation that has destroyed buildings on both sides of the border.

Thai reports said at least two people, including a soldier, have died and up to 45 people are injured.

"Cambodian troops started firing into Thai territory and we fired back," Thai army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told Thai media. "We retaliated and gave them what they deserved."

"Thai soldiers have been sent at nighttime and deployed along the border with Cambodia," the Banteay Meanchey provincial military commander said. "We are ready to defend our nation."

However, he also said he would continue to meet with his Cambodian counterpart as part of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation, set up by Thailand and Cambodia to diffuse tensions and maintaining peace along the border, particularly in the area of the Preah Vihear temple.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple was on Cambodian land. But the only access to the mountaintop structure is on the Thai side, a route that Thai troops occasionally seal off.

Cambodia managed to get the temple listed as a World Heritage site in 2008, much to the annoyance of Bangkok.

Around 2,000 troops from both sides are stationed across from each other on border patrol. Cross-border incidents occasionally flare up, such as in October 2008 when two Cambodian troops died and seven Thai troops were wounded in a gun battle lasting an hour.

Tensions between the two countries rose earlier this month when a Cambodian court handed down prison sentences to two members of a Thai nationalist movement after finding them guilty of espionage and illegally entering the country in December.

The court dismissed similar charges against five other Thais of the same group.

But Veera Somkwamkid, leader of the nationalist Thailand Patriotic Network, was sentenced to eight years in prison and his assistant Ratree Pipatanapaiboon was sentenced to six years.

Lawyers for both said they are considering an appeal.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply concerned" about the latest skirmishes and called on both sides to "exercise maximum restraint."

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