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| - Fact Check: 2011 image of dead Pakistani soldiers shared as a recent attack on Pak army by a terror group
A photo of coffins wrapped in Pakistan's national flag went viral with the claim that it showed the aftermath of a recent terror attack. India Today's Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the image to be old.
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India Today Fact Check
The viral image is from November 2011 and was shot in Peshawar after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a NATO air attack near the Afghanistan border.
A photo of coffins wrapped in Pakistan’s national flag went viral with the claim that it showed the aftermath of a recent terror attack. The attack supposedly carried out by a militant group called Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) led to the death of eight Pakistani soldiers.
Sharing this image, a Twitter user wrote, “About 8 Pakistani army personnel eliminated by TTP militants in North Waziristan hours ago, TTP spokesman claimed responsibility and added video of the attack will be released soon.”
Archived versions of similar claims can be seen here and here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the image was not related to the claim at all. Although there are reports of an attack on the Pakistan army by the said terror group, this image is almost 11 years old.
AFWA Probe
With the help of reverse image searches on Yandex, we found a report dated November 28, 2011, on SFGate which carried the same image.
The headline of the report read, “U.S.-Pakistan ties further strained by airstrike.” It noted that the photograph was taken in Peshawar during the funeral of Pakistani soldiers who were killed in a NATO attack.
Further searches from there led us to a New York Times report. The same image in the report was captioned: “Pakistani soldiers in Peshawar honoured colleagues who were killed in Saturday’s NATO air attack on border posts in Pakistan.” The photograph was taken by Mohammad Sajjad on behalf of the Associated Press.
The Times report revealed that 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a NATO attack on November 27, 2011, during a conflict on the Afghanistan border.
When we searched for reports on recent TTP attacks on the Pakistani army, a report in Ary News, a Pakistani news channel’s website, said that the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement that a group of terrorists attempted to infiltrate inside Pakistan from Afghanistan in Hassan Khel, North Waziristan district on midnight March 23-24. Four Pakistani soldiers were killed in the ensuing firefight. The report, however, did not mention TTP.
The Pakistani Army has been in the crosshairs of the militant group. According to an India Today report, last February, the group attacked the Pakistani army and it resulted in the death of five soldiers. But one thing is certain: the image that has gone viral is in no way connected to a TTP attack.
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