Claim
Local militants killed 12 Indian army soldiers in Manipur.
Fact
Old photograph. No recent reports on such an incident in the state.
A blurred photograph showing what appears to be the corpses of men dressed in military uniform has been shared widely on social media platforms, with users claiming it to be a recent image from conflict-hit Manipur. The users further allege that the photo is of the 12 army soldiers who were killed by the local militants and separatist groups in the north-eastern state. However, Newschecker found that the photograph is old, and no such recent incident has been reported from Manipur.
Such posts can be seen here, here and here.
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Fact Check/Verification
A Yandex reverse image search led us to a blogspot post carrying multiple 2015 reports related to operations of the Indian army in the north-eastern border states. It also featured the widely circulated image claiming to show the Indian soldiers martyred in a recent attack in Manipur.
We also found an India Today report, dated May 5, 2015, on an ambush by the Naga militants on the army soldiers. Carrying a photograph of the martyred soldiers, it elaborated, “In the deadliest ambush by Naga militants since the collapse of a 14-year ceasefire, seven Assam Rifles (AR) troopers and a Naga territorial army soldier were killed in an IED ambush laid by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang faction) in Nagaland. “
On comparing the viral image and the India Today photograph, we found them to be the same. The news outlet captioned the photo “the bodies of the Assam Rifles jawans.”
Detailing the incident, a PTI report from May 2015 stated, “Sources in Assam Rifles in Kohima said the two vehicles, one a water-trailer and the other a Tata 407, were on their way to collect water from a natural source nearly four kms from their camp location in Mon district when they came under NSCN(K) attack.”
Image Revived Multiple Times
A 2016 NDTV report on an encounter between the militants and Assam Rifles soldiers in Manipur’s Chandel featured the same image. Six Assam Rifles soldiers were killed in the encounter.
Times of Assam also carried the image to show the bodies of soldiers martyred in a 2016 encounter with militants in the Chandel district of Manipur.
In 2020, the image was falsely shared to show the Indian army casualties in a clash with the Chinese soldiers.
No Reports On Killing Of 12 Indian Army Soldiers In Manipur
We did not find any credible reports on the alleged death of 12 Indian army men at the hands of militants in Manipur in the past 24 hours.
The official X handle of the Additional Directorate General of Public Information, IHQ of MoD (Army) did not carry any such information either.
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Conclusion
We could thus conclude that a nine-year-old photograph of martyred soldiers has been shared to falsely show an attack on the Indian Army men in conflict-hit Manipur.
Result: False
Sources
Report By India Today, Dated May 5, 2015
X Account Of @adgpi
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