spotlight on Preah Vihear and awoke long-simmering tensions between the two countries.

Thai opposition parties, sniffing political capital, complained that the shaky Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej had high-handedly given his approval to Cambodia's application for World Heritage status for the temple without putting the matter before parliament.

The opposition suspected the hand of the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in this. Thaksin, now known in Britain as the owner of Manchester City FC, wants to built a giant casino and resort on the Cambodian island of Kho Kone, and is believed to have persuaded Samak to curry favour with the Cambodian government on his behalf by supporting Phnom Penh's application.

Whether or not this saga proves to be yet another example of Thaksin's continuing influence, it is

not the first time the two countries have come to blows over an ancient Khmer temple.

Five years ago, anti-Thai riots broke out in Phnom Penh after a Thai actress claimed Cambodia's most famous ruins, the Angkor Wat site, really belonged to Thailand. She confessed later that her knowledge of Southeast Asian history was a bit shaky, but in the meantime protesters sacked the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh and set fire to the building. Thailand citizens living in Phnom Penh had to be flown out. Relations have been strained ever since.

Now, the military build-up continues at Preah Vihear and the Cambodia government has accused Thailand of posing a "very serious threat to our independence and territorial integrity." Already, the first blood has flowed. A Thai soldier lost a leg after stepping on a Cambodian landmine.