A video showing firefighters rushing with water pipes to douse the fire on a series of buildings is being widely shared online claiming to show an arson attack in Nagaland’s Tuensang district to protest the killing of 14 civilians by the Indian army in a case of mistaken identity.
Newschecker found the video to be unrelated to the recent protests against the armed forces and was actually from a separate fire accident in Tuensang district on December 05.
a protest against the killing of 14 civilians in
Nagaland. Courtesy: Facebook
In a botched anti-insurgency operation, the Indian army ambushed a truck carrying local miners and killed six people on December 04. Following which a massive clash between the local and the armed personnel killed eight more civilians and one soldier.
The two-minute and eleven-second-long video is being shared to show the protests against the security forces.
English news channel Mirror Now also aired the video in two separate reports on ‘local residents vandalizing the Assam Rifles Camps.’
Archived versions of the reports can be accessed here and here.
Factcheck/Verification
On running a keyword search for ‘arson attack in Nagaland’s Tuensang’ on YouTube, Newschecker found a video by a channel named, Nagaland Times News.
The video shows a series of buildings on fire that closely matches the viral video. The video is titled, ‘Fire broke out at main town in Tuensang.’
On searching for fire incidents in Tuensang, we found videos by northeast-based news portals, Dimapur 24/7 and News 12 Assam North East. Both the videos carry visuals that match with the viral video but neither of them mentions an arson attack, but instead states that a ‘massive fire broke out in Main Police Point market, Tuensang on Dec 5, 2021.’
On contacting the Tuensang Fire Station, Newschecker found that the video shows a fire accident that is unrelated to the clashes between locals and the armed forces.
“We attended this massive fire call on December 05. The suspected reason for the fire was a short circuit and there was no casualty reported but seven shops got burned,” said the officer in charge of the Tuensang fire brigade to Newschecker.
“This fire has nothing to do with the civilian killings, it is a separate incident,” he confirmed.
Further, the Tuensang police tweeted stating, the video showing shops ablaze is due to a suspected short circuit and ‘It has no connection with any other incident.’
Conclusion
A video showing a fire accident is falsely linked to the clashes between locals and the army in Nagaland
Result: Misplaced context
Our Sources
News reports: Dimapur 24/7 and News 12 Assam North East
Direct confirmation from Tuensang Fire Station
Tuensang Police Tweet
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