Old pictures falsely portrayed as 'western Myanmar air strike in 2024'

The pictures were published on Facebook here on February 20, 2024.

The Burmese-language post reads: "Feb 20. The rocket launched by the Tatmadaw [Myanmar Military]. The sound could be heard but couldn't see it. The sound from the rocket flame was very loud. When I went and checked there in the morning, the spot where the rocket hit was seen as shown in the images. It was in Rakhine."

Image

A screenshot of the false post, taken on March 11, 2024

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military staged a coup in February 2021 that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically-elected government.

The junta has struggled to crush resistance to its rule by long-established ethnic rebel groups and newer pro-democracy People's Defence Forces.

In western Rakhine state, clashes erupted after the armed ethnic group Arakan Army attacked security forces in November 2023, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the coup.

Similar Facebook posts were also shared here, here and here.

While AFP was not able to verify the claim there was a rocket strike in Rakhine on February 20, the pictures featured in the posts were shared in a false context.

Old pictures

Reverse image searches on Google found the pictures were published here on Facebook by People's Spring, a pro-shadow government outlet, on November 16, 2022 (archived link).

The post's caption reads: "Air strike killed and wounded Chinese citizens in a mine".

The same pictures were also featured in an article on the website of People's Spring and appeared in local media reports here and here (archived links here, here and here).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the pictures in one false post (left) and those published on the Facebook page of People's Spring (right):

Image

Screenshot comparison of the photo from the false post (left) with the photos from People''s Spring Facebook post (right)

AFP reported on November 16, 2022 that the rebel group Karen National Union (KNU) said it was investigating whether Chinese nationals were among those killed and wounded in a military air strike on a mine that it runs near the Thai border.

Both sides said the military clashed with KNU fighters near the border one day earlier.

AFP had previously debunked misinformation swirling around clashes in Myanmar here, here and here.