Old AFP photo recirculates in posts about Philippine military air strike against pro-IS militants

The image was shared on Facebook on March 1, 2022.

The post's Visayan-language caption translates to English as: "BREAKING NEWS: The military launched an air strike against the suspected ISIS-inspired terrorist group in Maguing, Lanao Del Sur."

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Screenshot of the misleading post taken on March 4, 2022

The post circulated online after the Philippine military announced it had dropped bombs targeting pro-Islamic State militants in Maguing town in the country's southern island Mindanao on March 1.

The same image was also shared more than 3,000 times alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here, and here.

Comments on the posts suggested some social media users were misled.

"Start of air strike now, March 1, 2022," one wrote.

"Maguing has been bombed by a plane", commented another.

But the image has been shared in a misleading context.

The original photo was published here on AFP's website on June 17, 2017.

The caption reads: "A helicopter flies through smoke billowing from houses after aerial bombings by Philippine Airforce planes on Islamist militant positions in Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao on June 17, 2017.

"Philippine troops pounded Islamist militants holding parts of southern Marawi city with air strikes and artillery on June 17 as more soldiers were deployed and the death toll rose to more than 300 after nearly a month of fighting."

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Screenshot of the photo on AFP's website

Marawi -- the nation's principal Islamic city in the mainly Catholic Philippines -- is located 28 kilometers (17 miles) from Maguing.

It was besieged from May to October 2017 by hundreds of heavily armed local and foreign gunmen who authorities said aimed to establish a Southeast Asian base for IS. 

Swathes of the southern city were destroyed in five months of house-to-house fighting between troops and the jihadists from the Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups that killed almost 1,200 people. AFP reported on the conflict here.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the false post (left) and the AFP photo (right):

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The photo was included in an AFP report published here by Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times on June 17, 2017.

It reads in part: "Philippine troops pounded Muslim militants holding parts of southern Marawi city with air strikes and artillery Saturday (June 17) as more soldiers were deployed and the death toll rose to more than 300 after nearly a month of fighting.

"Fires erupted and dark plumes of smoke rose from enclaves still occupied by the militants as the air force staged bombing runs to support ground troops struggling to dislodge the fighters from entrenched positions, AFP journalists at the scene said."