This video shows a military games event held in Brazil in 2013, not the Pakistani army

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on November 17, 2020 at 11:26
  • Updated on February 27, 2021 at 02:34
  • 2 min read
  • By Wasi MIRZA, AFP Pakistan
A video has been viewed more than a million times in multiple posts on Facebook which claim it shows Pakistani army officers winning a military competition against US army officers. The claim is false; this footage actually shows an event in the 60th World Military Pentathlon Championship held in Brazil in 2013, which neither Pakistan nor the US participated in.

The video was published here on Facebook on October 28, 2020. 

The caption states: “Pak Army viral video Pakistani commando vs American commando Pakistani lion win #pakcommando #army.”

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A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post

However, this claim is false.

A reverse image search of a logo visible in the video at its 39-second mark found the clip actually shows an event in the 60th World Military Pentathlon Championship hosted by the International Military Sports Council (CISM) in Brazil in 2013.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the logo seen in the video (L) and the logo for 60th Military Pentathlon Championship (R): 

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Pentathlon Championships logo in the video (L) and from CISM (R)

According to the list of results for the event, neither Pakistan nor America competed in the championships

An earlier version of the same video showing the event was also published here on YouTube in 2016.

The organisers of the World Military Pentathlon Championship said the video shows an event held during the competition in 2013.

“I can confirm this video was taken during the 60th World Military Pentathlon Championships held in Brazil 2013 but it’s not an official video taken by us,” CISM Media and Communication Director, David Vandenplas, told AFP. He said that CISM did not possess any official footage of the event.

Similar versions of the clip have circulated in the past under different, false claims.

The video was posted here on TikTok in 2019 as a tribute to the Indian army and here on YouTube in 2018 claiming to show training exercises of the Indian army.

It was also posted here on Facebook and here on YouTube in 2017 claiming to show para commando training by the Indian army.

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