Photographs of coffins wrapped in the Indian national flag have been shared with the claim that these belong to the Indian soldiers who died in the recent clashes with China in Ladakh. Journalist Arshad Sharif of Pakistani media outlet ARY News tweeted the images and wrote, “At least 50 #Indian soldiers were killed in clashes with #Chinese forces in #Galwan valley. #Modi acknowledged only 20 killed, disgracing the sacrifice of other soldiers who sacrificed life for #India. The gory pics of all 50 available…” His tweet drew over 1,200 retweets.
Several accounts sharing propaganda against India have shared both images. The tweet below was posted by a user whose bio reads, “nepal nation are stand with pakistan to destroy india.”
Atleast 50 #Indian soldiers were killed in clashes with #Chinese forces in #Galwan valley. #Modi acknowledged only 20 killed, disgracing the sacrifice of other soldiers who sacrificed life for #India.
The gory pics of all 50 available.
How many coffins ⚰️ u can count?#Galwan pic.twitter.com/L2X128uSQQ— irmak idoya🇳🇵 (@irmaknepal2) June 21, 2020
The second photograph was also featured in a TV9 Bharatvarsh report on the death of 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan Valley.
Old images
Image 1
A reverse-image search of the first photograph took us to an article published by Financial Express in February 2019 after the Pulwama attack where 44 CRFP soldiers were killed by a suicide-bomber. The photograph has been described as, “Cutting across the political divide, leaders were united in paying homage to CRPF martyrs at Palam technical airport in New Delhi,” and has been credited to PTI.
Image 2
The second image was also traced back to last year after the Pulwama attack took place on February 14, 2019. Below is a Facebook post from February 17, 2019. While we were unable to locate the picture on media reports, it certainly does not represent the aftermath of the skirmish in Galwan Valley.
Therefore, old images were shared to falsely claim that they depict coffins of the Indian army soldiers who died in Galwan Valley.
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