These images show the Colombian army raiding a rebel camp in April 2020

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 12, 2020 at 10:00
2 min read
By AFP Colombia, AFP Myanmar

Four images have been shared hundreds of times in multiple posts on Facebook alongside a claim they show members of a Myanmar rebel group, the Arakan Army (AA), being captured. The claim is false; the images shows screenshots from a video of a Colombian military raid in April 2020 on members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Colombian guerrilla group.

The images were published here on Facebook on October 24, 2020. The post has been shared 316 times.

A screenshot of the misleading post

The Burmese-language caption translates to English in part as: “#AA terrorists were captured along with weapons and ammunitions. 24-10-2020

“Just now! They were captured together with weapons at Phayar Baung village’s monastery in Rakhine state. More information will be updated.”

The photos were also published here, here and here on Facebook alongside a similar claim.

The claim is false.

Keyword searches found that the images are screenshots from a video that was recorded during a Colombian military operation in April 2020.

The video published here on a freelance journalist’s Facebook page on October 15, 2020.

The first screenshot in the misleading post can be seen at the video's 1:46 mark; the second screenshot is at 1:32; the third screenshot is at 0:04; and the final screenshot is at 1:23.

Below are screenshot comparisons of the journalist's Facebook video (R) and the images in the misleading posts (L):

According to the Colombian military, the video shows soldiers detaining members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last recognised rebel group in Colombia, in April 2020.

The Colombian Army told AFP that the clip shows the Third Brigade, a military unit with jurisdiction in several departments in southwestern Colombia, during an operation in the municipality of El Tambo, Cauca.

“The video was taken in April when some 20 ELN members surrendered and weapons material was seized. The army arrived at that place where the guerrillas were, who then voluntarily surrendered to the demobilisation program," the military brigade’s spokesperson said.

This press release dated April 30 about the raid was also published by the Colombian Military Forces general command.

The release states that the guerrillas were members of the José María Becerra front of the ELN.

It reads: "13 rifles, 3 pistols, 1 grenade launcher, 60 suppliers, 22 40 mm grenades, 11 hand grenades, 5 improvised explosive devices and quartermaster material were seized."

AFP also published footage of a press conference about the raid on YouTube here.

In January 2019, Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez broke up peace talks with the ELN after the group claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack at a Bogota police academy that killed 20 people as well as the attacker.

AFP Colombia also debunked false claims about the same video here.

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