PHNOM PENH: Eighteen Cambodian soldiers received a hero’s welcome home on Wednesday, after Thailand released them as part of a truce deal that ended weeks of deadly fighting along their contested frontier.

A decades-old border dispute between the Southeast Asian neighbours erupted into military clashes several times this year, with the latest round of fighting in December killing dozens of people and displacing more than a million.

Some of the 18 soldiers — who were captured by Thailand and held for five months as prisoners of war — smiled, waved, and gestured with their palms pressed together to cheering crowds through bus windows in the border province of Pailin, and later in Phnom Penh.

Hundreds of well-wishers lined the streets of the capital, hollering and waving national flags, as a caravan of mini-buses shuttled the returned men and teary-eyed relatives through the city.

One woman in the crowd, Im Sivorn, 53, said their homecoming was like a gift for the new year.

“As a Cambodian, I am very happy to welcome these 18 heroic soldiers back to the country,” she said.

The 18 men, each wearing a Cambodian football jersey, met Prime Minister Hun Manet and his wife, Pich Chanmony, later on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2026