Thailand and Cambodia pounded each other with heavy artillery fire for a third day on Saturday, as a border conflict that killed at least 33 people and displaced more than 150,000 from their homes spread across the frontier.

Border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia escalates, prompting UN intervention and mass evacuations, with death toll rising to 32.

The UN Security Council held an emergency closed-door meeting Friday in New York. Malaysia, which chairs the 10-nation regional bloc that includes both countries, called for an end to the hostilities and offered to mediate.

"The U.S. already flunked the test and that should be a wakeup call," a former senior U.S. State Department official told Newsweek.