JAKARTA, Indonesia - Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Tuesday to allow civilian and unarmed military observers from Indonesia to be posted along their border, where bloody clashes over territory surrounding a centuries-old temple erupted anew earlier this month, killing at least 11 people.

The agreement, brokered by a meeting of Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers, is a breakthrough for the 10-member group.

The move will likely go a long way toward stopping the fighting as, without independent verification, each side has blamed the other for starting the sporadic but frequently bloody clashes.

Although full details were not immediately available, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said each team would consist of up to 20 military and civilian members charged with observing a ceasefire agreed by both sides.

He said the teams would depart in a matter of weeks, if not days.

"It's quite a unique regiment in the sense that Indonesian observers will be on both sides of the boundaries," Natalegawa told reporters after meeting ASEAN counterparts.

He said the observers would report to both ASEAN and the United Nations Security Council.

"China appreciates and supports Indonesia's active mediation efforts to tackle the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict under ASEAN framework," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular news conference on Tuesday.

"China is ready to continue to work with the international community and ASEAN, to play a constructive role in resolving the conflict," he added.

Stressing that Cambodia and Thailand are friendly neighbors of China, Ma called on the two nations to stay calm and exercise restraint to avoid an escalation of tensions.

ASEAN, which prides itself on non-interference in members' internal affairs, includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Fighting erupted between Thai and Cambodian forces early this month on a disputed stretch of border at the 900-year old Preah Vihear temple.

At least three Thais and eight Cambodians were killed and dozens of people wounded in the Feb 4-7 exchanges. Sporadic clashes have broken out since then.

An international court awarded the temple to Cambodia 49 years ago, but both countries lay claim to a 4.6 sq km patch of land near it.

They have been locked in a standoff since July 2008, when Preah Vihear was granted UNESCO World Heritage status, which Thailand opposed on grounds that the land around the temple had never been demarcated.

Cambodia initially asked the UN Security Council to deploy peacekeepers at the border and it has also asked for ASEAN observers. Thailand has called for a bilateral solution but said it welcomed ASEAN's "support".

Reuters-Xinhua