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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.

5,848 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video shows Pakistan army firing on India at the LoC

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video shared as showing Pakistan’s army firing on India at the Line of Control. FACTLY’s review says the footage was instead taken during the EFES-2018 military exercise in Turkey, so it does not establish the claimed LoC setting or event. The review states that the video “was taken during the EFES-2018 Military Exercise, which was held in Turkey.” To investigate, the publisher reports using screenshots from the circulating video in Yandex Reverse Image Search. It says the results included similar videos, one described as footage from EFES-2018. Searching for that exercise then led the reviewer to a Yeni Safak article containing the same video, captioned as Turkish ATAK helicopters striking targets during the drill. These steps connect the footage to a different event and location, rather than to firing by Pakistan’s army at the LoC. As an additional comparison, the review points to similar footage from another angle uploaded by the Turkish Armed Forces. It concludes that a Turkish military-drill video was falsely presented as “Pak army’s firing on India at the LoC.”

Deutsche Presse-AgenturWar & conflict

Über Facebook wird ein Beitrag verbreitet, der einen Online-Post der «tagesschau» wiederzugeben scheint. Dieser trägt die Schlagzeile «Wie die Bundesregierung den Terror in der Türkei unterstützt. Deutschland Rückzugsraum für über 5000 aktenkundige PKK Terroristen»

Publisher’s rating: Der Post wurde nicht von der «tagesschau» veröffentlicht. Alle angegebenen Zahlen sind laut Verfassungsschutz falsch.

The review examined a Facebook post that appeared to reproduce a tagesschau online item with the headline alleging that Germany supported terrorism in Turkey and was a safe haven for more than 5,000 PKK terrorists. The post’s accompanying text suggested that German media had only just discovered the figure, while asserting that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution counted 14,000 active PKK supporters. The review reports that Juliane Leopold, ARD-aktuell’s editor-in-chief for digital, said the post could not have come from tagesschau: its layout, typeface and punctuation were not used by the broadcaster. The review compared the post’s figures with the 2018 Federal Office report. It says that report put the “potential” of extremist foreign organisations in Germany, including the PKK, at approximately 14,500 people. That is not the same measure as the post’s wording about “active” supporters, and the review does not present the two figures as interchangeable. It also explains that the post attributed its headline’s lower figure to tagesschau in a way apparently intended to suggest error or concealment and discredit the broadcaster and German media. The image shared with the post did not show the scene implied by its caption. The review identifies it as an AP photograph taken in Ankara on January 5, 2017: it shows members of a special unit providing security before the funeral prayer for Turkish officer Hamza Simsek, who had been killed in Syria fighting ISIS.

FACTLYWar & conflict

India and Pakistan armies exchanging sweets on the occasion of Diwali

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video of Indian and Pakistani army personnel exchanging sweets, presented as footage of a Diwali observance. FACTLY’s review says the video does show personnel from both armies exchanging sweets, but identifies the occasion as India’s 66th Republic Day in 2015—not Diwali. It places the exchange at Uri. To check the footage, the review reports searching YouTube using the terms “Indian soldiers exchange sweets with Pakistan at LoC.” Among the results, it found a Headlines Today news video containing visuals seen in the circulating clip. The review says that video showed Indian soldiers exchanging sweets with Pakistani counterparts at Uri for Republic Day in 2015. The review also says information in an ANI tweet corroborated the identification: the exchange took place at Uri during the 2015 Republic Day. On that evidence, the footage is genuine in depicting an exchange between the two armies, but its presentation as an exchange for Diwali misidentifies the event.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Indian soldiers injured in an attack by Pakistan army.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post’s claim concerned a video said to show a bus full of Indian soldiers attacked by Pakistan’s army. FACTLY’s review identifies the people shown as BSF jawans and the footage as documenting a road accident in Meghalaya, not an attack. It reports that the jawans were injured when their bus fell into a gorge, and states that the accident had no connection to Pakistan’s army. To check the video’s provenance, the review says it ran screenshots through Google Reverse Image Search. It found news articles with similar visuals, including a report describing a bus carrying 20 BSF jawans falling into a deep gorge. That evidence links the shared footage to an accident rather than the military attack asserted in the post. The review also cites East Jaintia Hills SP Lakador Syiem’s account of the incident: an overspeeding bus went off-road and fell into a gorge at Umtyraa. On the evidence presented, the video’s setting and cause of injury contradict the post’s description of a Pakistan army attack.