Fake Viral

Old image from Yemen falsely shared as armed Taliban going through a security check at Kabul airport

Written by Sahban

Ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, several unrelated old images from different parts of the world and a plethora of misinformation has stormed the Internet. Many users have been sharing misinformation in context with the present situation in Afghanistan. Now, an image of a soldier doing a security check of a man who is armed is viral as  it is from a security check post at Kabul airport.

The image is viral on both Twitter and Facebook with same claim. Chief Sub Editor of The Lallantop Abhishek Kumar shared the image with a caption that reads ‘#afghanistan एयरपोर्ट पर सिक्योरिटी चेक की मनोरम तस्वीर.. मतलब एपिक है ये..!’ Archived version of this tweet can be found here.

Source: Twitter/Screenshot

A Twitter user Satya Arya tweeted the image with a caption that reads ‘You might be a terrorist, but still you have to ho through the mandatory security checks at #kabulairport
#Afghanistan’. Archived version of the tweet can be found here.

Source: Twitter/Screenshot

Find more claims here:

Source: Twitter/Screenshot

A Facebook account Rami jartuk posted the image with a caption that reads ‘Security check at Kabul Airport 😂’

Source: Facebook/Screenshot

Another Facebook account Abhimanyu zucced posted the image with a caption that reads ‘Security check at kabul airport’

Source: Facebook/Screenshot

For more claims from Facebook click here, here, here, here, and here.

FactO check:

A reverse image search of the viral image  directed us to a tweet by a user  ‘yemenfelix1′. The account belongs to Amjad Tadros, journalist and Middle East Producer for CBS News. Amjad tweeted the image with a caption that reads ‘Memories from #yemen: Houthi soldier searching a man going into a rally: Qat, daggers & machine guns allowed!’ , dated 1 July 2015.

Going through his Twitter profile we came to know that he was with Clarissa Ward,  who is a foreign news correspondent with CBS news then. Clarissa Ward was reporting from the ground on the humanitarian crisis facing Yemen at that time.

We also found a video by CBS News Evening on YouTube. At 1:24, in the video we can see people checking other people carrying guns.

Conclusion:

The image is not from Kabul, Afghanistan but from Sana, Yemen and from 2015. So the claim of it being from Kabul airport security check is misleading and false.

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About the author

Sahban

Specialized in media monitoring, analysis, and research associate at FactO. Email: sahbanzar@factonews.co

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