<strong>An old image from Iraq shared as Hazara Genocide in Afghanistan...</strong>
Since Taliban claimed power over Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, several media and international organizations have expressed concerns over the rights of minority communities in Afghanistan and their security. Many events of atrocities over the Hazara community by the Taliban have also been reported over the years.
Recently #Stophazaragenocide and #Bantaliban have been trending widely among social media users protesting the atrocities committed by Taliban on the Hazara community in the country.
Recently an image is being shared on social media and is claimed to be of Hazara Genocide perpetrated by the Taliban.
You can see the Twitter post below;
The Twitter user writes: "The World Must Recognize Hazaras' Genocide! #StopHazaraGenocide".
In the shared image, some armed gunmen can be seen shooting people lying on the ground. The Twitter user has claimed that the image is of Taliban militants killing Hazara people of Afghanistan.
However, Fact Crescendo's findings show that an unrelated image is being shared with misleading claims on social media.
Fact check
In order to find out the truth behind the image and the social media claims, we applied Google reverse image search on the shared image. We found that the image does not show an incident of mass-killings of Hazara people of Afghanistan by Taliban.
Google reverse image search led us to an article published by a website named VOA. The article was published on 14 June 2014 and the image showed Islamic State militants killing Iraqi soldiers after taking over a base in Tikrit, Iraq in 2014.
According to another website named Iraqyoon.net, ‘ISIS’ had shot dead about 2,000 people, who were students at the College of Aviation and security personnel inside a military base known as “Speicher” in Salah al-Din Governorate, when it took control of the area in June 2014.
The website also mentioned that death sentences were issued against at least 14 people convicted of the massacre.
The mass killing of Iraqi soldiers by ISIS militants was termed as 'Camp Speicher massacre' and according to contemporary reports, the massacre occurred on 12 June 2014 and Islamic State militants killed over 1700 Iraqi soldiers.
You can read more in detail about Camp Speicher massacre and ISIS (Islamic State of Syria/Levant) by clicking here.
Conclusion
Hence, from the above investigation, it is clear that an old image of Camp Speicher massacre happened in Iraq is being shared with misleading claims. The image does not show Taliban militants killing Hazara people. The image actually shows ISIS militants massacring Iraqi soldiers after capturing a base in Tikrit in 2014.
Title:An old image from Iraq shared as Hazara Genocide in Afghanistan...
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: False
