By Artorn Pookasook and Chantha Lach SISAKET, Thailand/PHNOM PENH (Reuters) -Cambodia and Thailand each said the other had launched artillery attacks across contested border areas early on Sunday, hours after U.

Artillery fire erupts along disputed frontier as each side blames the other for the escalation amid US call for truce.

The fighting between Thailand’s and Cambodia’s militaries has continued for a second day in a row, with the clash progressively escalating in a border battle that has killed at least 16

Tensions have bubbled between the two neighbors for months, flaring on Thursday as Cambodia and Thailand exchanged fire.

Thai and Cambodian soldiers have clashed along the two countries' border in a major escalation of a festering dispute over territory that killed least 14 people, mostly civilians.

Thailand and Cambodia are engaged in their worst fighting in over a decade, exchanging heavy artillery fire across their disputed border, with at least 16 people killed and tens of thousands displaced.

Thai and Cambodian troops clashed in at least six areas along the countries’ shared 510-mile border on Thursday, killing one Thai soldier and nearly a dozen Thai civilians. The fighting—the second instance of armed confrontation between the two countries in almost two months—has sparked fears that the conflict could escalate into open warfare.

Cambodia is seeking to "internationalise the issue to serve its own political objectives", Thailand’s ambassador to the United Nations Cherdchai Chaivaivid told a closed-door UN Security Council meeting.