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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

War & conflict fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about war & conflict. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,847 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video showing Indian soldiers in Kashmir forcing men sing the national anthem in response for their pro-Pakistan slogans

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim is that Indian army soldiers in Kashmir forced men to sing the national anthem after they raised pro-Pakistan slogans. FACTLY identifies the footage instead as showing Delhi police forcing men to sing during the Delhi riots in early 2020. It says the video has “nothing to do with Kashmir.” To check the footage’s provenance, the review says reverse-image searches of screenshots returned multiple 2020 news reports showing the same visuals and describing the incident as taking place during the Delhi riots in February 2020. It also reports that Alt News independently checked the video’s location and context by speaking with one of the victims, who confirmed the Delhi-riot setting. The review adds that one of the five injured men died, and identifies him as 23-year-old Faizan. It reports that the Delhi High Court questioned the investigation’s delay in January 2022 and directed police to submit a detailed status report. These later developments concern the Delhi incident; they do not support the claim that the video shows soldiers in Kashmir.

Fact CrescendoWar & conflict

सभी देशवासी IED विस्फोट नक्सली हमले में गंभीर रूप से घायल तीन SSB जवानो के शीघ्र ठीक होने के लिए ईश्वर से प्रार्थना करें I 14.01.2022 को छत्तीसगढ़ के कांकेर में नक्सली हमले में 3 जवान घायल, टारगेट कर ब्लास्ट किए गए 2 IED

Publisher’s rating: False

FACTLYWar & conflict

Images from the recent air strike near Abu Dhabi airport

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned social-media images presented as showing the recent attack on Abu Dhabi airport. FACTLY reports that it checked the images individually using reverse image searches and compared them with news reports that had published the same visuals. Its investigation found that the images did not depict the Abu Dhabi strikes: they came from earlier, separate incidents or had been used as generic illustrations.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Set of images related to the recent IED blast instigated by Maoists near Kosronda camp in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The post claimed that a set of images showed the recent Maoist IED blast near Kosronda camp in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, where SSB personnel were injured. FACTLY distinguishes the occurrence of a blast from whether the circulated images actually depict that event: it reports that an IED blast occurred in Kanker district on 14 January 2021, injuring an SSB jawan, but concludes that the images in the post were not from that incident. The review’s key finding is that most images came from different attacks in Chhattisgarh over several years, while a couple were not connected to Chhattisgarh. To investigate the images, the article describes using reverse image searches and comparing the pictures with earlier news reports and an ANI post. Its image-by-image account identifies several different events: an image from a 2018 attack in Chhattisgarh before assembly polls; an image from a 2013 Maoist attack on a BSF vehicle in Koraput district, Odisha; and a collage of CAF personnel injured in a January 2021 blast in Narayanpur district. That Narayanpur incident was distinct from the claimed Kanker blast. The article also traces other images to attacks in Dantewada and Bijapur in 2018 and an exchange of fire in Sukuma in March 2017. Thus, the misleading element is not the claim that a Kanker blast occurred, but the attribution of this mixed set of older and unrelated images to it. The review does not provide a separate identification for the couple of images it says have nothing to do with Chhattisgarh.

Vishvas NewsWar & conflict

व्हायरल झालेला फोटो सियाचीनमध्ये तैनात असलेल्या भारतीय जवानांचा असल्याचा

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim under review was that a photograph of two snow-covered soldiers showed Indian troops serving in Siachen. Vishvas News reports that its investigation found the photograph was not of Indian soldiers, but of Russian soldiers being shared with a false Indian attribution. The review describes the image as showing “दो जवानांचा एक फोटो” and says it was claimed to depict “सियाचीनमध्ये तैनात असलेल्या भारतीय जवानांचा.” To trace the image, the review says it used Google reverse image search and found it on the Russian stock-image website vk.com, where it had been uploaded on December 21, 2013. The site described the picture as showing Russian soldiers in harsh training. The review also says it found the image on other Russian websites. These findings provide an earlier, non-Indian provenance for the same image, rather than merely pointing to other photographs of soldiers in snow. Vishvas News additionally reports that it consulted Sanjay Mishra, a journalist who covers defence stories for Dainik Jagran. Mishra said the claim was false and that the image was not of Indian soldiers. The review qualifies its chronology: it did not independently verify exactly when the depicted event occurred, while stating that the image was online as a picture of Russian soldiers from March 2013. It acknowledges that Indian soldiers serve in remote, sub-zero conditions, but says that fact does not establish that this particular image shows them.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Mi-17 V5 helicopter carrying India’s CDS was shot down by Tamil Nadu Liberation Army

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review addresses a social-media post alleging that the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army shot down the Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying India’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat. The post also claimed the organisation had issued a statement and that the crash area was infested with Tamil insurgents. The review says the cause of the crash was not known at the time and that a tri-service enquiry had been ordered by the Indian Air Force; it does not present a determined cause as a substitute explanation for the allegation. [S1: “The post even claims that Tamil Nadu Liberation Army had put out a statement in this regard; and that the area where the crash happened has been infested with Tamil insurgents.”; “The cause of the crash is not yet known. A tri-service enquiry had been ordered by the Indian Air Force (IAF).”] To check the allegation, the reviewers searched for credible reporting that the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army had shot down the helicopter and looked for evidence of the purported statement. They report finding no credible reports of the group shooting it down and no official social-media accounts they could identify for the organisation. Their discussion also notes that the account spreading the claim was based in Pakistan and described itself as part of the Pakistan Strategic Forum, which its bio called an Islamabad-based defence-related think tank. These details concern the origin and support for the post; they do not establish who caused the crash. [S1: “When we searched on the internet for credible reports about Tamil Nadu Liberation Army shooting down the helicopter carrying India’s CDS, we could not find any.”; “We could not find any official social media accounts handled by the organisation.”; “The Twitter link/ account which is propagating this information is based out of Pakistan.”] The review distinguishes the claim from separate reporting about a different alleged conspiracy. It says news outlets had reported that retired Brigadier Sudhir Sawant alleged a conspiracy involving the LTTE and ISI, but emphasizes that this was not reporting that the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army shot down the helicopter. On the evidence described in the review, the specific attribution to that organisation was unsupported; the review did not claim that the crash’s cause had been established. [S1: “It has been reported by several news outlets that Retired Brigadier Sudhir Sawant had alleged that the crash was not an accident but a conspiracy by the LTTE and ISI.”; “However, nothing has been reported about Tamil Nadu Liberation Army shooting down the helicopter carrying India’s CDS Bipin Rawat.”]

FACTLYWar & conflict

Visuals of recent communal violence in Tripura

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video circulated as footage of recent communal violence in Tripura, including a post accusing Tripura police of inciting violence. FACTLY’s investigation identifies the video as footage of a petrol-pump explosion in Pakistan, rather than an incident in Tripura. The review says its reverse-image search found similar videos and that users sharing them described a recent explosion at a petrol pump in North Nazimabad, Karachi. To check that identification, FACTLY reports finding the same visuals in a video published by Pakistan-based GTV Network on 29 October 2021, titled “Blast In North Nazimabad Petrol Pump | Karachi”. It reports that the explosion occurred on 29 October at a petrol pump near Abdullah College in North Nazimabad. The review says a short circuit in the petrol pump’s electric room reportedly caused the blast; four people were killed and several others injured. The comparison of the shared footage with material identified as the Karachi explosion is the decisive evidence in the review. FACTLY concludes that the video is unrelated to the Tripura violence and is being misrepresented as showing it.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Photos of Muslim victims of the recent communal violence in Tripura, India

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned two photos circulating as images of Muslim victims of recent communal violence in Tripura. The investigation traced each image to a different, earlier event: one showed a detained Rohingya woman near the Bangladesh border, while the other came from a fire at a Rohingya camp in New Delhi. Neither image documented the claimed violence in Tripura. [S1: “The first photo shows an old picture of a detained Rohingya woman near the Bangladesh border in India. The other photo is from the recent fire accident that hit the Rohingya camp in Kanchan Kunj, New Delhi.”] For the first photo, the review says a reverse-image search found a similar image in a 2019 Ghana Guardian article, which described Rohingya refugees arrested near the Bangladesh border in Tripura. It also found the same image on Tritiyomatra and Alamy. The review reports that the underlying incident occurred in January 2019, when 31 Rohingyas stranded at the India–Bangladesh border were arrested by Amtali police—years before the violence to which the photo was attributed. [S1: “According to these reports, in January 2019, 31 Rohingyas stranded on the India-Bangladesh border were arrested by the Amtali police in Tripura.”] For the second photo, the review found it in an Instagram post by journalist Aasif Mujtaba dated 13 June 2021. Mujtaba described it as taken during a fire at the Rohingya camp in Kanchan Kunj, New Delhi. The review also says he shared the same photo on Twitter on 28 October 2021 and clarified that it was unrelated to the recent Tripura violence. The review therefore identifies both photos as misattributed: one was from a 2019 arrest near the border, and the other from a June 2021 Delhi fire. [S1: “On 28 October 2021, Aasif Mujtaba shared the same photo on his Twitter handle and clarified that the image was not related to the recent communal violence in Tripura.”]