Cambodia fired rockets into fields as border fighting raged with Thailand.

Cambodian soldiers razed some 3,000 rai (1,186 acres) of farmland as they bombarded Sa Kaeo province with Soviet-made BM-21 rocket launchers on December 17.

Footage shows thick black smoke billowing from burning sugarcane fields as farmers scrambled to save what they could of their crops.

Sunet Khlongyut sought help from local officials, saying he 'has lost everything' after taking out loans to invest in his sugarcane field.

Another farmer, Thitiphan Semathong, said: 'I asked if they could help by providing harvesting machines to cut the sugarcane during this period, but since this morning, there have still been continuous artillery exchanges between Cambodia and Thailand.

‘I don't know whether the sugarcane factory would dare to send machines to help cut them or not. I want to ask the government to provide compensation because everyone has lost everything. We are in debt because the money invested in planting sugarcane was all borrowed.'

The Thai military said today that Cambodia is still shelling homes and agricultural properties with BM-21 rockets, despite publicly claiming to be the victim of its neighbour's aggression.

Territorial clashes flared up earlier this year before a brief ceasefire, but started again this month when Cambodian troops are said to have fired on a Thai engineering team building an access road in a disputed border area.

In the most recent battles, at least 21 Thai soldiers and one civilian have been killed.

In Cambodia, the number of military fatalities is believed to be much higher, though regime chiefs have not revealed the actual figure.

Around 600,000 people have been displaced on both sides of the border.

Cambodia's assault has largely been wayward, unguided rockets fired indiscriminately into Thai territory, including an attack on July 24 that killed eight people and injured 13 others. Thailand has used precision drone strikes and fighter jet strikes on military sites.

Former Khmer Rouge henchman and Cambodian dictator Hun Sen - who was a leading figure in the genocide of his own people in the 1970s before assuming power in 1985 and overseeing the murder of thousands of opposition figures and critics - has repeatedly claimed that he wants peace and that Thailand is the aggressor.

Thai officials claim the ongoing border confrontations are a threat to national security, and the areas must be secured.