Car bomb explosions in Syria and Iraq passed off as Pulwama CCTV footage - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
16th February 2019 / 3:39 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019
In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which a car bomb killed over 40 CRPF personnel on February 14, two videos have surfaced on social media. These are CCTV videos, and are claimed to be of the Pulwama terror attack.
The first video is grainy, and shows a convoy of vehicles in the distance, before a huge explosion takes place.
CCTV Footage Of Pulwama Terror Attack | Jammu Kashmir
Posted by ਕਮਾਊ ਪੁੱਤ ਮਾਪਿਆਂ ਦੇ Kamau putt maapya de on Friday, February 15, 2019
The above video, posted by a Facebook page with close to 300,000 followers, has been shared almost 600 times and viewed over 22,000 times. The same video has been shared by another Facebook page I Love Punjab, apart from a large number of individual users.
Alt News broke the video into key frames, and reverse searched one of them on Google. The result suggested that this video is of an explosion which took place in Iraq.
Alt News found that the earliest instance of this video on YouTube is of March 5, 2008 when it was uploaded with the title ‘Truck Bomb’. All the descriptions of the video that we found online referred to this incident having taken place in Iraq. The video is more than 10 years old and is obviously in no way related to Pulwama.
Another video which has been shared as CCTV footage of the Pulwama attack shows movement of vehicles on a road, followed by a huge explosion.
पुलवामा मे आंतकवादी हमले के CCTV वीडियो…
🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳#Pulwama #PulwamaAttack #IndiaWantsRevenge #CRPF pic.twitter.com/zk0u3mGSkq
— अशोक-सिरोही 😭😭 (@Ashok9898114017) February 15, 2019
The video has been shared on Twitter as well as Facebook.
A Google reverse image search of a frame from the video suggested that it is from Syria.
Alt News found a video uploaded on YouTube by the Russian international news channel Russia Today. The attack had occurred at the Turkey-Syria border. According to reports, at least three people were injured after a car bomb hit a border gate between Syria and Turkey on February 12, 2019. The Chinese news agency Xinhua states, “According to broadcast A Haber news channel, the explosion happened on Syrian side of the Cobanbey border gate, which located between the northern Syria and the Turkish southeastern province Kilis.”
In conclusion, videos of car bomb explosions from Iraq and Syria have been passed off as CCTV footage of the Pulwama attack.
Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.
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