These photos have circulated in news reports about Vietnam, not Myanmar
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on February 2, 2022 at 10:55
- Updated on February 3, 2022 at 02:23
- 3 min read
- By AFP Thailand
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The photo was published here on Facebook on January 22, 2022.
It has been shared more than 500 times.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021.
The post claims the man in the photo -- named as "Bo Galon" -- was part of a suicide attack by the People's Defence Forces (PDF) -- who have been fighting back against the junta since the coup -- on military tanks between Tayabin and Budalin townships.
The Burmese-language caption reads in part: "Bo Galon was recorded as a respectable martyr for suicide bombing military tanks after they came to attack [People's Defense Forces] in Maung Htaung, between Tabayin and Budalin townships".
The red text superimposed on the image reads: "RIP Bo Galon"
There have been no official reports about a suicide bomber attack between Tabayin and Budalin townships in January 2022.
The same photo collage has been shared here, here and here, alongside an identical claim.
However, the posts are misleading.
Tanks image
A reverse image search on Google found the photo of the burning tanks published here on Vietnamese historical research website ChienTruongVietNam.com on June 12, 2021.
The report's Vietnamese-language headline translates as: "Van Tuong battle - Operation StarLite".
The photo caption reads: "American military tanks attack on the Van Tuong battlefield - The StarLite march in the Vietnam-US war."
Part of the Vietnamese paragraph translates to English as: "The Van Tuong battle - in the Operation Starlite was the campaign on the search and kill of the American troops in the Vietnam war in 1965."
Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading Facebook photo (left) and the photo from ChienTruongVietNam.com (right).
A similar photo was published here by Getty Images.
The caption reads: "Slightly angled wide shot, across open fields, of military vehicles near a flaming and smoking explosion at the edge of a forested area, Vietnam, 1965. (Photo by Stuart Lutz/Gado/Getty Images)"
Abuse case
Another reverse image search found the photo of the man published here on Vietnamese news website VN EXPRESS on August 5, 2021.
The report's headline reads: "Man held for allegedly abusing a five-year-old boy in southern Vietnam".
The photo's caption reads: "Nguyen Hoai Nam is at a police station in Binh Duong Province after an online video showed him beating a boy, August 5, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Yen Khanh."
Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading image (left) and the photo published by VN EXPRESS (right).
Another keyword search on Google found the similar article on a local news website about the man who reportedly beat a five-year-old boy.
February 3, 2022 This article was corrected to amend the publication date of news reports of a man arrested in Vietnam for allegedly beating a child. The news reports are from August 2021, not June 2021 as previously stated.
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